


Something Wicked This Way Comes

by Chryso



Category: Finder no Hyouteki | Finder Series
Genre: Demon!Asami, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, M/M, Magic, Power of Three, Soulmates, Soulmates AU, Witch!Akihito
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2021-02-27
Packaged: 2021-03-03 02:22:05
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 29
Words: 93,356
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24057427
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Chryso/pseuds/Chryso
Summary: Charmed AU:Hardworking Charmed Akihito is just your average witch, trying to balance saving the innocents and freelance photography.
Relationships: Asami Ryuichi/Takaba Akihito
Comments: 549
Kudos: 632





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I am doing this for fun while in quarantine, I started watching old school Charmed on Netflix and thought wow this would be great if it was Akihito and Asami.
> 
> sorry if there is some spelling or typo mistakes, i am kinda just breezing this by.
> 
> For those who dont know anything about the TV show Charmed, its basically about three sisters who are powerful witches. They have a book of Shadows and they hunt demons and evil warlocks and protect the innocent and all that Jazz. They are more powerful when they work together than separate. Each of their powers where descended down from their ancestors. go google it, or watch the show!

Kou, Takato, and Akihito were not brothers by blood, but on rare occasions, the bonds of friendship and brotherhood are more reliable than that of blood ties. All three were taken to an orphanage while they were still babies, the origins of their birth were not known. But it was clear from early on that each had powerful ties to the magical world.

Magic was in their blood.

Grandma Ai Momohara was a good witch and a seasoned one at that. She had sensed the magic in the boy's veins and decided to adapt the boys and take them under her wing. The three babies were quickly adapted and raised by their new foster family that took them in and cared for them like their own.

Ai didn’t tell the boys about their powers, or about her own, or about the vast magical world, or about the Book of Shadows that was hidden in the attic. She wanted them to have a normal life, free of the burden of the “Power of Three”.

The three were destined to become the most powerful witches ever know, to protect the innocent and rid the world of demons, evil warlocks and witches, and other wicked creatures.

But for now, they were only young men who didn’t know anything about the magical world.

Ai Momohara, their beloved grandma and the women who raised them, had died only earlier this year. They all moved back into their family home after her death. They couldn’t bring themselves to sell their family home, despite the numerous offers they received.

The family home was in the Azabu district of Tokyo. It was a residential area, not were all the huge sky scrappers of the megacity were. Ai Momohara's ancestors had built the odd victorian manor in this part of the city. The house had always stuck out compared to the modern buildings around it. It was filled to the brim with heirloom antiques and, of course, powerful magical objects- although the boys didn’t know that.

Soon after their grandmother's death, they learned they had inherited more than just the house they had grown up in.

After playing with a spirit board, that tells him to search the Attic, Akihito finds the Book of Shadows. He reads the incantation, and it bestows the power of three on himself and his two brothers.

Kou could suddenly freeze time with a look, Takato could move objects with his mind, and Akihito had premonitions that allow him to see the future.

Suddenly their lives as three normal young men, trying to make it in the world, became very different. Although they wouldn’t change it for the world. It took them ages to get used to their powers, and they are still trying to learn them, while also trying to balance their lives.

Not to mention every now and then, they are faced with some great evil. Some evil warlock trying to kill them and take their powers, or else they stumble upon magic that is harming an innocent person. It’s been almost two months since they got their abilities, and they find they are kinda getting into the groove of this whole “charmed” thing.

Although they know, they still have much to learn. And that they are only at the start of their journey.

Despite being a charmed one now, Akihito kept his job at the Weekly Headline. In fact, his job proved useful in investigating when magical beings where causing harm or otherwise meddling in human affairs.

And his gift of premonitions meant he was always beating Mitarai out a scoop- hahaha! A feat he was particularly satisfied with. He knew the rules, he couldn’t use his powers for his own benefit. But he was actually helping the innocent. It just so happened that he also got to rub it in Mitarai's face every so often. Although since he still hadn’t fully controlled them, they were fairly sporadic.

Sometimes helping innocents had nothing to do with the magical realm and everything to do with just evil human beings. That's when he got to be photojournalist Akihito, the normal everyday version of himself. That could still help the innocent by putting corrupt politicians, or dangerous people behind bars.

Everything was actually on the up and up for Akihito. His job had finally settled down, he always had a busy work schedule every week. Photoshoots after photoshoots, stake outs and big cases at least once a week. He was finally garnishing some success at work.

While he was also getting into the flow of his family life, and of course the responsibility of being a charmed one. Moving back in with his brothers had only posed minor hick-ups. The daily fights for the shower included them- but that was normal brother things.

Everything, for once, was actually working out very well. But…something felt missing for Akihito.

Takato, had a long time girlfriend, who knew the brother's secret. Akihito was happy that Takato, had someone to share his secret with. Even Kou had socially returned to normal and was going on dates and meeting friends. It was only Akihito, where things had not quite returned to normal- social speaking.

He made excuses. Like that he was busy with work. Or that the last time he went on a date he had a premonition the girl was actually gonna leave with someone else. Or that he wasn’t in the mood to date. But his brothers had seen through his sorry excuses.

“Akihito were your brothers. We are just trying to help you out, sometimes you need a little push in the right direction,” It was Kou who was speaking.

“This is ridiculous. I-I don’t need your help getting a girlfriend” Akihito was fuming. “I can’t believe you guys are really making an online profile for me. And without my permission! You’ve gone to far this time!”

“Oh come on Akihito, it can’t hurt! We’re not trying to force anything done your throat..but we just think it might be good for you to meet some new people. What's the harm in that!” Takato, the oldest finally spoke. He was the more diplomatic of the three, as he tried to calm his youngest brother up.

His brothers were maybe...maybe making a point. But it burned Akihito to say so. It was embarrassing to have your brothers making an online profile for one of those dating sites.

  
He sat down next to them, pouting and grumbling. He didn’t want to admit that he knew deep down they were probably right. It would be nice to meet some new people, maybe he could find some who he could share his secret with, that he could talk about his responsibility as a charmed one with.

But also it was stressful to think about. It's not exactly like he could just casually mention that he was a powerful witch that hunts down evil creatures on the first date. A part of him dreaded the idea of having to hide who he really was to someone and that it might take years for the truth to come out. And what if, once you told them they wouldn’t accept you.

There was also much to think about. After becoming a witch, everything had changed, and now all of his relationships would be plagued with challenges. The future kind of scared Akihito, even though he could see it- although never quite so clearly.

But that's not what his brothers were asking him to accept or to consider. They just wanted him to have a nice time, maybe meet someone who he could just have fun with. He didn’t have to make everything so complicated, or dark.

“..Alright..” He relented.

Both Takato and Kou smiled at each other. They were sitting in the kitchen table, with Kou’s laptop set up on the table, making the profile together.

It ended up being kinda fun making the profile, together they picked which one of Akihito’s pictures they liked best and what they could add on the profile. After about five minutes, they were almost done finishing up the profile.

“Okay. Now, what kind of person are you looking for. In your own words.” Takato spoke, as they tried to fill out the last bit of information.

Akihito had to think about that. What was his type? He hadn’t really considered. After a moment of deliberating, he finally came up with an answer.

“hmm.. Well, I suppose..If I really had to think about it. I guess I would want someone warm, Some who smiles as much as I do. Someone gentle and kind. Someone who’ll snuggle next to me. Someone… Someone like spring, you know.” He smiled thinking about it, satisfied with his answer.

————————-

A very different scene was unfolding across town, on the east bay in an abandoned warehouse.

“Tsk Tsk Tsk. I am really disappointed in you, Tatsuki. You should know better.” The cool baritone voice echoed in the warehouse. “I always thought you were smart- Smart enough to know you shouldn’t cross me.”

Asami had a pleased smirk on his face, he ignored the muffled cries of the man kneeling in front of him.

Tatsuki had a gash on his forehead and what looked to be a broken nose. The gag in his mouth prevented him from saying anything except some indistinct and broken cries. The man was beside himself, fear riddled his face. He was sweating and tears were streaming down his face.

Suoh and Kirishima were the only two others in the warehouse. They stood behind Asami.

“Your gonna regret betraying me Tatsuki”

Asami’s golden eyes glistened as he spoke, his golden iris suddenly illuminated in the darkness of the warehouse. Those searing and unearthly eyes loomed over Tatsuki unrelentingly, making the man tremble and cry in horror.

Asami brought up his hand and stretched his palms out. A fire ball formed in it, his fireballs were special. At a hotter temperature than other demons and was a gorgeous blue flame instead of a normal red one.

He looked at it for a moment, then back at Tatsuki who was whimpering and crying with even more urgency. He obviously didn’t know the man he had betrayed was the King of the Underworld— in more ways than one.

The true horror written all over Tatsuki was very pleasing to Asami. Tatsuki was tied up but he tried to crawl away on the ground in desperation. He wouldn’t get far. Before Asami launched the fireball at Tatsuki.

The flames where hot and fast, and he was quickly ignited by the flames. Engulfed in the fire that just as fast burned his skin off. A painful death. The death of a traitor. His bone-chilling screams were music to Asami’s ears.

Suoh and Kirishima were usually hardened by their bosses antics. They were both human, but had served Asami for almost a decade. They knew he was not a normal man. Yet when he burned traitors alive, as was his signature, it was always a little hard to watch. The smell of burning human flesh was not a pleasant one.

Asami always liked to stay until the very end. He signed and looked back over to Suoh and Kirishima, when the flames had died down, and all that was left of Tatsuki was a burnt husk.

“Move him and make sure his body is found. I want word to spread.. That this is what happens if you even think about betraying Asami Ryuichi.”

He turned away and headed out of the abandoned building. He lights a cigarette with his own finger as he proceeded out, and into the limo awaiting him.

Suoh drove, to head towards Sion. While Kirishima sat in the front making a call to have the body moved to a secondary location. The secretary brought down the privacy glass, turned to speak to Asami.

“Sir. I thought I might warn you about some rumors being spread. Only minor ones, but it's coming from some of your demon subordinates. They say the charmed ones are back, that the “power of three” has returned and it's somewhere here in Toyko.”

That news had Asami quickly sitting up in his seat. “The power of three? In Toyko?” He repeated. His eyebrow rose in curiosity.

“They're just rumors, sir. We will keep you updated if any more news comes about. We are looking into it thoroughly.”

“There hasn’t been a ‘power of three’ in almost 300 years. Although..I suppose we must be due for it. Very interesting.” Asami couldn’t help but smirk, at the thought. But he continued. “Their magic is highly coveted, by many demons and warlocks alike. Anyone who’s anyone in the underworld will want that power, for themselves. We have to tread carefully, that power won't be easily taken. The charmed ones are extremely powerful and dangerous magical beings. Especially to the likes of me.”

He thought about it for another moment.

_But Alas, it wouldn't matter. The ‘power of three’ will be mine, it’s only a matter of time._


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg. I was surprised at how many people like charmed! I was a little afraid that there would maybe be a generational divide. but a lot of people are still fans of charmed! lol i hope you won't be disappointed with what I write! Cause i am playing kinda fast and loose with the charmed Canon. 
> 
> I am really only writing this for fun, as a crazy outlet! and I am not even editing too much! so please excuse if u see mistakes. My plan for the series, is to basically write crazy finder episodes where magic just happens to be involved. And akihito and asami are dummies in love 🥰. 
> 
> I am mostly writing this as if it was like season one of charmed- cause that's currently were i am binge-watching the series on Netflix! while in quarantine! (hope everyone is staying safe in these crazy times). so the brother's powers haven't been fully developed and their still figuring stuff out.
> 
> It's fun and lighthearted so i hope you enjoy!

Akihito could not sleep very well that night. His thoughts almost squarely on his online profile. It had not gone the way his brothers had hoped. He knew it was only a matter of time before his brothers would ask him how his online profile was doing

The truth was he was popular, he had gotten many ‘likes’ and people sent him direct messages. But it was not what he had expected, nor what his brothers had probably expected.

It was all from men. He signed, how could that be.

He couldn’t figure out if his brothers had put something on his profile, like that he was searching for both men and women. He had received a few likes and messages from some women. But the overwhelming bulk of them came from other men. He was starting to get the feeling this was all some kind of prank his brothers had plotted so they could laugh at him or something.

He had never really thought about dating men before. It never occurred to him honestly that it could even be an option. He had always believed he was straight. He had little experience dating women before, but he still always believed he was attracted to the opposite sex.

In any case, that wasn’t even on his mind. He wanting to delete the profile, not wanting to explain to his brothers that for some reason he was popular with only men. It was far too embarrassing to admit that.

But he couldn’t bring himself to do it, only because he was seriously considering all that they had said earlier. That he needed to return to some normalcy, that he should meet people, that he shouldn’t take things so seriously and just have fun. That he shouldn’t feel the weight of what the future held.

It was late at night now, and he found himself wondering up to the attic. Sometimes he liked to go up there and study the Book of Shadows.

Occasionally, he'd feel like he had the weakest of powers, compared to his brothers. He didn’t get to do cool things like freeze time or move objects with his mind. His premonitions were often vague and cryptic, and sometimes he was powerless to stop them.

Whenever they had fights with evil warlocks, he always felt so useless and powerless to do anything against them. But where his strengths lied was in knowing more about the Book of Shadows than his brothers did.

He had studied its contents diligently since the night they had gained their powers. It always thrilled him a bit to learn a new spell or curse - even if he didn’t immediately understand it or how it could be used. He liked reading the countless entries on demons and other evil creatures. There was much to learn, but he liked to think that one day he’d be an expert on everything in the Book of Shadows.

He stays up and casually turns the pages of the Book of Shadows, until he feels sleepy and decided to call it a night and return to his bed. He closes the book and carefully places it on its little pedestal. He runs his fingers on the triquetra symbol, on the books cover, and somberly starts to walk away.

Before he makes it to the door, however, there's what feels like a gust of wind. Except that's not possible because the windows are bolted. The feeling sends a chill down Akihito and he turns around to find the Book of Shadows mysteriously wide open.

The Book of Shadows had a tendency to do that, it was something Akihito noticed early on. As if it has a life of its own, it would open on its own- right on the page you needed it to.

But that normally happens when the trio was in need of something, like trying to find some information on an evil warlock. Or exactly when they needed a spell. So why now?

Akihito walked back to Book of Shadows and peered at it. He almost gasped in surprise, it opened to a page he had never seen before.

A Soulmate Locator spell.

His brain suddenly went on overdrive.

How was it possible, he had defiantly never heard anything about soulmates before, shouldn’t this news take top billing or something. The thought of someone out there that was your other half- wouldn’t witches be lining up to find their soul mates. And why was he only finding out about this now?

He quickly scanned the page. It was an incantation that involved some fairly basic recipes, some of the ingredients might be harder to get. Overall it looked like a fairly intermediate level spell, one he could defiantly do- if given the time and the effort.

He took a pen and paper and wrote down everything. Closed the book and headed off to bed, with newfound excitement.

The next morning he found he actually didn’t know what he would do with this information. A soulmate sounded good in theory, but what if it actually wasn’t. And plus, how would this little bit of information play out for his brothers.

Takato had a longtime girlfriend, did that mean there was someone out there that maybe was his soul mate that was not his girlfriend. Even though they were happy and clearly in love.

Meanwhile, Kou would maybe be interested in knowing about it. But it occurred to Akihito that it was a lot to take in. I mean think about it,knowing that there was someone out there, destined for you-and you for them. There was something kind of scary about the thought of that. A weight and gravity to it,that Akihito was not sure he was ready for.

And how exactly would this spell work? Would it just lead you to them, how would you know it was them?

Magic is tricky in that way. His premonitions were similar. Just cause he sees the future doesn’t mean it’s going to happen that way. You can change the future. Sometimes it’s just one potential outcome of the future, that hasn’t been set in stone yet.

It was highly possible that soul mates were similar. Maybe they were only perfect for you, at a given time. Maybe soulmates weren’t permanent. Maybe even the definition of what a soul mate was is different, then what it meant in the Book of Shadows. And plus, magic always comes with some kind of catch. It can’t be as easy as just finding your soulmate.

There was a lot to consider. Wasn’t doing something like this, breaking the golden rule of magic. Which was not to use magic for personal gain?

But wasn’t it a positive sign that the Book of Shadows seemed to be recommending this spell.

Ugh, it was a lot to take in! He should go talk to his brothers about it. He found them at the breakfast table.

“Good Morning,” They said in unison.

“Morning” Akihito replied casually. He took a piece of toast and started buttering it, trying to form the words.

“Umm.. soo.. Last night, I was in the attic. I couldn’t sleep. But then just as I was leaving, the Book of Shadows opened, and it landed on this…page” He dwelled on that last word. “Its a spell…for…finding your soulmate.”

“What really?!” Kou was the first to speak. He looked very surprised and he looked at Takato.

Takato only looked at Akihito, until he finally spoke “It sounds… fishy”

“That's what I thought too, that's why I wanted to talk to you guys. It just felt like the Book of Shadows was trying to tell me to do it.” Akihito remarks. “Heres the ingredients and everything” he took out the notes he had taken and placed them on the table for Kou and Takato to look at them.

“Remember that time you and Kou did that love spell, but it was all bogus- and it made everyone attracted to you. This spell could easily be something like that.” Takato continued.

“Ugh don’t remind me of that. I had guys and girls chasing me around town- it was a disaster. But, I don’t know I don’t see the harm in trying this. Maybe it could really lead to something. Plus the books says the spell might not even work, because - well something cryptic like ‘the fates’ haven’t decided”

Takato looked pensive for a moment, he looked at Kou.

“I wouldn’t mind giving it a try either!” Kou responded. “I wanna know about my soulmate too”

Takato sighed. “Don’t say I didn’t warn you… But.. I guess you're right. Give it a try and see what happens. For once, I think this might be a good thing. Akihito. I am surprised. Yesterday you seemed hesitant to even make an online dating profile, and now you wanna find your soulmate.”

Akihito was surprised that all of this newfound information went by well with his brother. Even Takato seemed okay with the idea of using it- and he usually never wanted us to use our powers.

“I know it seems a little crazy Takato. But.. I don’t know something feels right about this, y’know. I am surprised we all seem on board with it. Well okay! Good! We can assemble all the stuff and give it a try!”

After breakfast, they split up to find the rest of the ingredients, and they decided they would meet back at the house after they were done with their errands for the days. Takato and Kou had to go to work and wouldn’t be back home until around 5. While Akihito only had a photoshoot today, so he was given the bulk of the duty to collect the ingredients.

When they finally all came back to the house, they decided to have dinner and talk over the spell a bit more. Takato had decided he would not do the spell and was only gonna be there for curiosity, and to supervise everything.

Kou wanted to do the spell. But they had all decided that the Book of Shadows had clearly wanted Akihito to use the spell. So he would be the first to use it.

Kou was okay with that since it meant Akihito would be the “guinea pig”- so to speak. Kou was curious to see how it would work, and maybe wait to see what the outcome was before he would give it a try himself.

Akihito had been buzzing all day, thinking about it. He was afraid he was getting his hopes up. Since the Book had kinda suggested that the spell had 50/50 chance of working. But everything felt like it was falling in to place like he was meant to do this and find his soulmate.

All day today, he found himself questioning what his soulmate might be like. Would they like scary movies as he did? Could he tell them right away that he was a witch and a charmed one? How would he explain that they were soulmates? He would probably have to start off slow with this person, as not to scare them off. Maybe things would just happen naturally, and they’d be comfortable with each other right off the back.

But, again Akihito was Akihito so course he was overthinking it. He was starting to worry about the dangers that he might be exposing his soulmate to because he was a Charmed One. And what if they didn’t like Akihito. Or maybe for some reason they couldn’t be together. Like what if his soulmate was already married! Or dating someone? Or maybe they didn’t even live in Tokyo?

He was kinda tying himself up in knots, thinking about it all. He had already resigned himself to do it- he had already come this far. So he couldn’t back out of it now.

“Alright, do we have everything,” Takato spoke. They had set up a candle circle that Akihito was supposed to sit in, while he did the incantation.

Akihito looked around, he had a hair comb that was needed- a piece of himself. And all the other ingredients he had put in a pouch “Mmhmm.” Hummed in answer.

They lite the candles and Akihito sat in the circle, he put all the stuff in their cauldron and dropped the match into the pot. He closed his eyes and said the incantation.

“Whither My Love, Wherever You Be, Through Time, And Space, Take My Heart, Nearer To Thee.”

—————-

“Sir. You have your meeting with the diet member in conference room 3. Here’s your briefing on it, we should think about head down soon.” Kirishima was busy with his nose in his leather planner.

“Afterwards, we have a meeting with Yakuza clan from Osaka at the warehouse, it’s about that missing shipment- Our sources seem to be confirming they are defiantly the ones responsible for the theft.” The secretary continued.

The crime lord had a lot on his plate today, he was reading over the file Kirishima had just handed him. He rubbed his chin before answering his secretary.

“It seems their trying to skirt me out a deal. Well, we can't allow that- now can we” Asami sneered. “We’ll handle the clan, get the men to the warehouse, and set up a team in Osaka. I want this whole clan wiped out, in one foul blow for their treachery.”

“Yes sir, Asami-sama” Kirishima took notes on his planner, and then promptly closed it. “Shall we head to the meeting with the Diet Member.”

“Yes of course.” Asami stood up and moved to follow Kirishima out of his office. “Its just routine isn’t it?” He questioned.

“Yes, Sir. He says he’d like to speak to…”

Kirishima was still talking. But suddenly Asami couldn’t hear, and he stopped dead in his tracks. All he felt was a powerful rush in his heart, and the feeling as if his whole body was being pushed and pulled- he couldn’t explain. Somehow he was able to speak;

“Kirishima! Somethings happenin—,” and then he was gone.

“Boss!?” Kirishima shouted, as his boss disappeared into thin air, he swiveled his head frantically around the empty office. “Boss!?!”

————

Asami closed his eyes for a second and when he opened them, he was not in his office.

‘Blinking’, a teleportation power, was an ability that was in Asami’s wheelhouse. One he had taken off some warlock some 100 years ago. But he had never been forced into blinking somewhere…

It was immediately troubling. His fight instincts already activated, his eyes already glowing with a searing heat. He hadn’t taken out his fireball yet, but he could bring it out at a moment’s notice.

The three witches were stunned for a moment, at the appearance of a strange man in their attic. Right after the incantation was spoken there was a pause and gust of wind seemed to blow out the candles. Then the man appeared standing in the back of the attic, his back was to them and he hadn’t seemed to notice them yet.

Asami looked around, it was slightly dark but his eyes adjusted straight away. He was inside, and there was a window on the far side wall- it looked… like an attic?

“What the hell?” Asami whisper under his breath.

The brothers couldn’t wholly see the man. Only that the man was wearing a dark blue suit, and had slicked back raven hair. They hadn’t seen his glowing golden eyes, or the azure blue fireball that was seconds away from forming in the man's hands. 

Kou was the first to break the silence since the other two were in silent astonishment. Of course, he had to make a wisecrack.

“Look, Akihito, you summoned a businessman” he snickers, looking to his brothers for a reaction

He doesn’t have time to see their reaction. Because Asami turns around, upon hearing the voice behind him. Golden eyes in a fury and voice in a growl.

“Who has summoned me here?”

Before the sentence even ends, his fireball forms in his hand and he looks at the three brothers in front of him. Eyes narrow menacingly, and he snarls out a contemptuous “Witches!”. He throws the fireball towards them.

“Whoa!” Kou throws his hands up defensively. His powers are still new, and its almost as if he forgot that he had them. He freezes Asami and the fireball hurling towards them, unintentionally. But he sure is glad he does it.

Akihito is frozen silent, his brain hasn’t processed what has happened and he finally speaks.

“G-guys. I think...I think we’ve just summoned a demon to our house.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oh no! 
> 
> I know there is no soulmates in charmed, but i wanted this to be a soulmate AU. So of course there had to be a spell! 
> 
> The incantation is actually from the show. It's a locating a lost lover spell, that is used in the series. (Pheobe trying to contact cole whose soul is in the underworld) I thought it was perfect! 
> 
> Kudos and comments are much appreciated :D


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> back at it again with another chapter!! Not much happens, but I am feeling on a roll with this one- but its just so much fun and easy to write, so i'll probably have another one up by the end of the week or something! 
> 
> :D hope you enjoy!

“What have I done.” Akihito had gone ghost pale.

His brothers had definitely noted that “I” part- even though this was something that they had all agreed on. It had only just happened, and already Akihito was blaming himself.

But, this was the last thing any of them expected to happen when Akihito said the incantation out loud. They were expecting maybe Akihito would receive a vision about who their soul mate was, or perhaps something would start leading them in the direction of Akihito soul mate. Or maybe they wouldn’t have noticed the effect until tomorrow. They were mostly expecting for nothing to happen right away.

And they were definitely not expecting a demon to appear. Was the Book of Shadows playing tricks on them. Or had this demon just appeared at the same time they were doing the spell- no, that can’t be right. The demon just asked who summoned him. What the heck was going on?

For a moment, Akihito looks at the frozen demon in front of them. His mind is frantic, but he feels oddly transfixed looking at the man— No, not man, a demon! Akihito reminds himself

This demon was unlike any he had ever seen before. His dark raven hair, perfectly straight nose, chiseled bone structure, sharp eyes and those eerie golden gleam of his eyes.

And how many demons wore perfectly tailored three-piece suits?! Most demons had horribly ugly exteriors, distorted and twisted. This one looked human. But it must be some kind of fake facade…right?

What was that thumping in Akihito's heart, what was shudder going down his spine when he looked at those blisteringly fiery eyes?

No. No, it must just be fear.

Before he could think too hard, His brothers brought him out of his daze.

“Soul-mate, Huh? More like he’s a soul eater or something!” Kou began again. Takato had pushed his brothers out of the firing line of the fireball.

“We don’t have time to be debating right now. There’s a demon in our attic.” Takato, as the oldest brother, was a bit more levelheaded than the rest of his brothers. “And he’s going to unfreeze at any moment. I’ll throw him against the wall when he—“

Before he could finish the sentence, though, Asami unfroze, and the fireball landed behind them. Catching a piece of furniture on fire.

Asami was taken aback by the witches' sudden movement away from his fireball. He suddenly realized there were three of them and he realized who these three must be.

“Freezing time, Huh? That must make you the Power of Three, Huh? I wasn’t expecting to run into you three so soon.”

Just then, Takato sent him flying.

His powers were still new, and maybe it worried him a bit to hear that this demon know they were the Charmed Ones. Maybe he just didn’t like the thought of a demon in his house. Or maybe he didn’t know his own strength- but he really really sent Asami flying.

So much so that Asami collided with the window on the far sidewall. The glass and wooden frame broke at the force, and Asami went tumbling down the side of the house.

All three brothers were taken aback, although they were impressed with Takato’s show of force.They ran to the window's edge, and looked over it. Expecting to see the demon on the ground, but there was nothing but the broken glass and remains of the window on the ground below.

The demon was gone.

“Where did he go” Akihito said.

“Maybe thats a good thing. Maybe we scared him off. He can’t possibly hope to take on all three of us.” Kou replied.

“We need to take pro-cautions. I have a feeling he’ll be back, now that he knows where we live. Let’s look at that spell again, and see what went wrong. Maybe there's an entry or something about him in the Book of Shadows.” Takato continued.

They quickly put out the small fire that had started, that had ruined an old wardrobe- luckily, there was a fire extinguisher upstairs in the attic.

Afterward, They decided to go back downstairs to the living room to talk it all over, since there was now a drafty hole in the attic. They brought the Book of Shadows with them and scoured over it. Trying to figure out what had happened.

____________________

Asami had not disappeared as they had thought.

How could he run, when the Charmed Ones were right here. And not only that- they were three young idiots. Ripe for the taking. HA! Here he was thinking it would be a challenge killing them and taking their powers.

Although it was clear they had raw power. He had not expected to be shoved that far. Not that it hurt him, but it was clearly only a sample of the unrefined power their abilities had.

Since there were so many unknowns, and especially since he was concerned about how they had forced him to appear before them. Asami decided it would be best to tread lightly and investigate.

How did they somehow summon him- did they think they could take him on? Or did they have some information he did not- like they knew how to vanquish him or something?

He would garnish the information he needed, and only then would he kill them quickly and take their powers.

After the window broke, he blinked himself inside the house. He found himself by the front door, and he looked around the house. There was a picture of the three witches on one of the tables nearby, and he picked it up to examine it.

They looked a few years younger in the photo, maybe in their teenage years. The picture looked like it was taken right outside of the manor.

The one in the middle of the photo with the lighter hair, He clearly had the power of telekinesis and had thrown him out the window. He was possibly the oldest. As he gave off a more powerful vibe than the others, he was also in the middle of the photo and the tallest of the three. To the left of him was the black-haired boy, middle height-wise of the three. So perhaps he was the middle child.

Then there was the petite boy on the right. Different than the other two.

Color-treated blond hair, much shorter, and with softer features. While the other two, in the photo, where looking sober and bored, he was grinning ear to ear mischievously. He looked lively and boyish.

He’s… cute. Asami vaguely thought.

But, it was only a faint thought before his mind drifted back to business. He stuffed the framed photo into his suit pocket for later. Since he had connections in the human world, he could use the photo to find out more about the brothers. Do a complete background check, get their financial records - find out every little thing.

Just then, he heard the brothers making their way down the staircase, and he blinked away to the dining room and hid behind a wall. Their voices carried as they walked down and into a sitting room by the front entrance. He blinked back to his original spot so, he could listen in on their conversation. He figured they might say something of use, now that their guard was down.

_________________

“It's odd. I’ve never heard of any kind of…demon summoning spell. Why would witches need to summon a demon- of course that would be dangerous.” Kou was speaking. “That guy looked like heavyweight too. Maybe the book will tell us what kind of demon he is?”

Takato looked over at his youngest brother, who still looked utterly desolate. He didn’t doubt that Akihito was blaming himself for all that had occurred.

“Akihito, are you okay? You’ve been quiet-its not like you. I know you’re probably upset that the spell didn’t work, and that now we’re dealing with some kind of demon. But none of this is your fault. We’ll clean up the mess outside and get someone to fix the window in the attic. We’ve had many a broken window in recent months- this is nothing!” Takato tried to soothe his brother.

Kou went over and sat next to Akihito, “Of course, it's not your fault! We all agreed to do the spell. We don’t know what all this means yet. Maybe it was even a demon that just appeared just as we were saying the spell. Or maybe he’s a demon that tries to stop you from finding your soulmate. Really it's gonna be okay, Akihito. We'll get to the bottom of it.”

Akihito gave a wary smile, he was happy his brothers were trying to console him. But he feared it wouldn’t work this time. He was filled with dread suddenly, at all the possibilities before him.

Akihito was always an over thinker. He was undoubtedly emotional- it was why the power of premonitions suited his personality.

“Really, I am okay. Just shell-shocked is all. I just feel a little pathetic. I just.. I just wanted something to work out for once and now it’s just a total disaster. I should have known that using magic… to find my soulmate… of course it wouldn’t work. And now it's like I am being punished for it- and putting you guys in danger too.” Akihito said he cast his eyes down solemnly.

Takato went to sit on the other side of Akihito, and they had a little group hug on the couch.

“This doesn’t mean you’re cursed or something Akihito. Or you won't find someone- one day. We’re going to get through this.” Takato said.

______________________

Asami was frozen stiff. Did he hear that correctly?

The blond one, was trying to find his soulmate!? HUH?

He is suddenly reminded at how odd it was that he had was summoned, but apparently so did the witches. They were not expecting him. They were doing another spell— a soul mate finding spell by the sound of it? And somehow Asami got summoned? How was that possible…

Unless….

Asami immediately blinks back up to the attic and looks around. He examines the circle of candles and inspects the burnt up remains of the cauldron and the spell they used. There is a handwritten note on a nearby table, with the header “Soulmate locator spell”.

This has to be some kind of mistake. He thinks. There is no way…NO WAY I am that blond brat’s soulmate. 

Except the ingridents were simple. How could all these things work, together to summon him- even on accident. That didn't make any sense.

He blinks back down to the front entrance again and peers into the room with the three witches. They are busy scouring thought their large spellbook, and vaguely talking.

Asami’s eyes land on the back of Akihito's head and his profile. His eyes probe Akihito’s tousled blond hair and the back of his long elegant neck. His big and bright hazel eyes and his long fine lashes. 

Something in Asami stirs and he quickly turns his head around.

Going by that strange feeling, he guessed he really was that blond brats soulmate….

_Well...how about that...Curious. Very Curious.._

He’d need a little bit more than a “feeling” to verify if it was true or not. And he knew exactly how he was gonna do it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> things may get HEATED next episode. HEHE
> 
> Once again! Kudos and comments are much appreciated! Thanks for the read!


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Once again, turning this one out so fast! I am not sure how fast the next chapter will come out- cause I kinda want to take the weekend off! So maybe maybe monday or tuesday. But also i can't help writing about my dumb boys. So we will see. 
> 
> I am not very experienced with writing intimate scenes. So i am kinda learning as I go. But i hope you like none the less ;}

Later that evening, everything has settled down in the manor. The brothers have gone through the Book of Shadows, a hundred times and they still haven't found anything about their mysterious intruder.

They stay up late trying to figure stuff out, but to no avail. The three adamantly avoid the topic of soulmates. But as it passes midnight, and they decided to give it a rest for today. They still have work tomorrow, so they all get ready for bed. They agree that tomorrow they will try not to be alone in the manor- in case the demon comes back.

Akihito goes to take a shower in the upstairs bathroom, and while he is busy- Takato and Kou discuss things without him.

“Takato…don't think you think it's a little weird we aren’t finding anything about the demon in the Book of Shadows. How is it that the Book of Shadows has a way of summoning it, but not on vanquishing it. And why do you think, the spell was called “soulmates locator”… how does that make sense.”

Takato had a bad feeling about everything, since the moment the demon arrived in the manor. But he had kept it to himself as he genuinely didn’t want to believe it. He also wasn’t sure if Kou had a similar feeling or not.

Takato knew his brother, Akihito, all too well. He knew his brother was timid about relationships, and he also knew it was more than likely that his brother was actually attracted to both men and women. But Akihito hadn’t admitted it yet to his brothers, and it was probable that he hadn't even realized it himself.

Takato was the one responsible for the dating profile saying Akihito was interested in finding both men and women. He thought it might spur Akihito into giving it a try or get him out of his shell a bit. Or at least consider it for himself.

The older brother thought the soulmate locator spell, might be right for him. It occurred to Takato that Akihito’s soulmate might be a man. But he thought that might be a good thing. It would force Akihito to come to his sense and realize his own feelings. And If it turned out his soulmate was a woman, well then no harm, no foul.

After the spell was cast, and the man appeared. Takato’s first thought was that this man must be Akihito’s soulmate. But he wasn’t expecting anyone to materialize in front of them. And moreover, when the man turned around and revealed himself to be a demon- he was horrified. And he quickly shoved away any thought that this man was Akihito’s soulmate.

But now, with still no information on the demon. Takato was starting to have a horrible looming feeling that maybe this demon...was somehow Akihito’s soulmate. That the spell _had_ actually worked.

But he had kept that feeling and worry to himself. He didn’t know if it was possible. He prayed it wasn’t. That it was all some huge misunderstanding, that would be cleared up as soon as possible. But that didn’t stop the welling feeling deep inside.

Kou spoke again, he had a worried expression on his face suddenly “You don’t think.. that maybe… that demon is actually…Akihito's sou-”

“No! It’s not possible, Kou! This must be… I don’t know. Maybe the book has some information wrong. I-I don’t know. But I am not gonna start believing that- that THING is my brother's soul mate.”

___________________

Akihito had only felt marginally better after the talk with his brothers. But something was settling uneasily with him.

Although he didn’t have even the slightest of notions that the man that had attacked them in their attic was his soulmate. Akihito was hung up over what Kou had called him - a soul eater.

His mind was already imagining the worst. He was envisioning that the reason the spell hadn’t worked was because the demon had actually killed his soulmate. And that the locator spell was just pinpointing the witches to the demon that had taken real soulmates soul.

Akihito had already come up with some tragic backstory for his make-believe soulmate. That they were probably some innocent cute girl, that got taken in by that - that oddly handsome devil and then gruesomely murdered. He whipped up an idea that the Book of Shadows had shown him the spell, so they could avenge his soulmate by vanquishing the demon.

The thought of some big scary demon killing a soulmate that he never knew made Akihito blood boil. He wished he had the power to shove that evil demon out the window like his brother had. 

It was seriously concerning to him that they had found nothing on the demon in the Book of Shadows. But hopefully, they could find something soon. 

Akihito had taken a shower to clear his head before he would tuck himself into bed. He didn’t know that downstairs his brothers were talking about him. Nor did he have the faintest idea that he wasn’t alone in the upstairs bathroom.

The bathroom had quickly gotten misty when he stepped out, filled with the steam from the hot shower he had taken. He stepped out and grabbed one of the towels hung up on the wall.

He pushed his face into the towel to pat himself dry and then dropped the towel over his head and wriggled his head around to dry his hair. After that, he started to pat himself dry. He stepped closer to the doorway, as he was getting ready to exit the bathroom.

When suddenly out of the corner of his eye, he saw movement in a mirror to the side of him. He turned his head slightly to look, the mirror was all fogged up from the steam of the shower, and he could hardly distinguish the blob that was himself. But directly behind him was a big black blob.

He gasped automatically at the sight. But his brain had yet to process the danger. 

He was like a deer in the headlight, frozen stiff and wide-eyed. The figure took a step closer and towered directly behind him until he was breathing down Akihito's neck. The towel slipped out of his hand and on to the ground. 

Akihito is too paralyzed even to cry out. Two arms smoothly go on either side of Akihito, caging him against the door. The maneuver wasn’t done forcefully or with violence. In fact, it was done so calmly and cautiously. Careful so that there was still a gap between them. Yet, there was nothing benevolent about it. Akihito could feel a powerful wave of the dark presences looming over him.

A low and even-tempered baritone voice murmured right next to his ear. “Don’t scream.”

It was barely a whisper, but the voice sent a shiver down Akihito. He was still frozen— was it fear that enthralled him or something else. He couldn’t be entirely sure, especially with the way the beating in his chest made it hard to concentrate.

The voice continued, but now the breath was on Akihito’s nape and on his bare shoulder. Asami had leaned in closer. So close that Akihito could almost feel his nose just barely scraping by the skin.

“Tell me…little witch,” he said, the last word came out with such hostility. “You used a soulmate spell, didn’t you? I wonder…”

Akihito's eyes widen even larger at that statement. How did the demon know about the soulmate's spell? Before Akihito could even think of an answer, or respond. He felt the tips of Asami’s fingers gently sweeping over his lower back.

It was like sparks had gone off at the slightest of touches. The contact caused a hitch in both of the men's breath, and they were both caught off guard by the instant sensation.

Asami continued, he trailed his fingertips gently down Akihito’s spine, and his nails delicately scraped over the soft skin. 

Asami leaned in from behind, his lips just brushing against Akihito nape. Then his voice came again, “Do you think it worked?”

He crushed his lips against that soft patch of skin on the boy's neck. Again the same tingling sensation overtook both of them, and Asami deepened the kiss. Akihito groaned reflexively and then flushed pink. Modified that he had let that noise ever escape his mouth.

The kiss on Akihito's nape was certain to leave a mark. So his kisses began to move lower on to Akihito's bare shoulder. Asami pressed Akihito’s chest into his own and pushed his hips forwards so that the boy could feel the distinctive bulge of his cock against the crack of his ass. 

With that, Akihito was thrown out of whatever hypnotic state that demon had put him under. 

He squirmed and was about to cry out for help. Instead, he is quickly turned around. Asami already has his chin scooped up and is pressing his cheeks inwardly, preventing Akihito from being able to call out.

They are eye to eye now. Asami’s facial expression is a picture of cool and composed. But his eyes have given him away, entirely blown out in carnal desire. How wolfish and ravaging they look. They glow now with more urgency, then when they were filled with fiery anger a few hours before.

Akihito shivers, at those searing eyes on him. He is coming to the realization that this demon intends to absolutely consume him. Although it’s not in the way, Akihito would have initially guessed.

“Do you feel it too?” Asami questions, he uses his thumb to knead Akihito’s bottom lip. His eyes have not left Akihito's. He doesn’t wait—No, he can’t wait for a response, for he is already feeling the subconscious pull to pillage and plunder that mouth.

Asami mashes their lips together. And just as quickly forces Akihito’s mouth to open wider, so he can send in his tongue in to explore the boy's cavern.

Akihito finds himself, once again succumbed to whatever demonic bewitching spell this demon has - clearly, CLEARLY done to him. He can’t even muster a struggle, at this point. He closes his eyes and lets his mouth and lips be ravaged.

A part of him feels all of his sense being wholly overwhelmed, overwritten, and overpowered. That all there is- is this feeling. These hands wrapped around his body. These lips on his. That musty masculine smell of sandalwood. The taste of cigarettes and bourbon on his breath.

For a fleeting moment, it feels so good and so right. That he kisses back. That his fist clutches on to the man's suit lapel pulling him in. That he arches his back into the kiss. That he completely submits —

“Akihito!” Takato yells from down the hallway.

And just like that, Akihito is abruptly thrown out of it, and his senses return. The voice of his bother, like a bucket of cold water, taking him out of his trance. 

He opens his eyes…and there is nothing but an empty bathroom in front of him. 

The demon is gone.

He looks down at himself. He flushes at his hard manhood and the drool leaking from his mouth. 

“Fuck.” Akihito buries his face in his hands. “What kind of DEMON TRICKERY was THAT!?”He fumes.

 _There’s no way- There’s no way he’s my soulmate._ Akihito repeats his new mantra. Hoping it will nail itself into his head.

__________________

Asami teleports back to his office. He’s seen all there is to see. He also didn’t want another tussle with that older brother, who has god-awful timing.

He rubs his fingers on his lips. Recalling to mind those sweet, sweet lips. Lips that had almost instinctively kissed him back.

He presses the intercom system on his desk. “Kirishima,” he calls.

The secretary comes through the door a moment later. “Sir. What happen? You left so suddenly. Is everything okay? We had to have one of the shapeshifters on call to take your meetings.”

“It was the Charmed Ones, Kirishima. They’re here in Tokyo….it’s rather a long story.”

He reaches into his suit jacket and takes out the framed photo of the three brothers, the one he had taken earlier, just for this purpose.

“Take this” He hands it over to Kirishima. “Give it to one of our private investigators. I want a thorough background check and a personnel file on all of them. I want everything we can get on them…. And Kirishima…There's something else… Let's keep this under wraps…For now. I don’t want any of our demon subordinates, getting any ideas… These three— Their mine.”

Kirishima is surprised by the news, but he is also applauding his boss for having already tracked down the Charmed Ones. “Yes. Sir. I’ll send one of our human investigators on it… Sir. This is...quite a big discovery! What a catch!”

Asami catches a peek of the photo and the cute blond beaming in it before it moves out of sight. He flashes his infamous smirk to his secretary.

“Yes. Kirishima. A catch— Indeed!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for the read! Hope to see y'all soon! 
> 
> Once again, kudos and comments are appricated! I love reading all your comments, that honestly make my day! :D


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I am back! Once again it might be a while until I post something, or it could be in two days who knows! Sometimes i plug these out like there's no tomorrow and sometimes it takes me a whole week to get back to you guys!
> 
> I've been feeling like we need more witchy things to happen, and I am sorry if you thought there was gonna be more. There will definitely be! i have a lot of fun ideas lined up. but I wanted the boys to get a little more settled, into the whole "soulmates thing" and that might take a few episodes, y'know.
> 
> What I really like about this episode, even though it's kinda a fuller in between plots, is his different relationships with his brothers. It might be a little sappy. but i love writing about different sibling relationships as I have three older sisters myself - Also why i loved Charmed so much when I was growing up because I thought me and my sisters were like the charmed ones! Also why I feel like i really relate to Akihito as we are both the babies of the family.
> 
> anyway enjoy :D

Takato thought he heard something strange, and he came upstairs to see how Akihito, who was alone upstairs, was doing. He was glad that he did because Akihito didn’t respond to him calling his name.

He knocked on the bathroom door, “Akihito? Are you still in there? Is everything okay? I thought I heard something.”

It was a moment before Akihito finally responded, with a sad sounding hum. It didn’t take big brother's senses to realize something was wrong. “Akihito, I am coming in.”

He opens the door and finds Akihito with a bathrobe wrapped around him. His back is to Takato- he is very obviously trying to avoid turning around and making eye contact.

“Akihito?” He says softly.

He realizes he doesn’t want to pry, in case Akihito is actually just still upset about earlier and doing what he usually does, which is cover up his feelings up. But he feels something is not right. That's when he notices that Akihito’s hands are trembling, he is holding on to the sink counter for dear life, propping himself up. He takes a step forward, and Akihito recoils away.

“I-I am fine!” Akihito finally says harshly. He still hasn’t turned around. “I-I - ju-just let me get dressed- Please.” He says that last word with such a sad desperation that Takato relents and exits the bathroom. But he stays close just outside in the hallway.

Akihito stays inside the bathroom for another five minutes, and when he finally steps out, he looks a mess. His eyes are still puffy, and his face flushed, even though he had clearly done his best to cover up his tears.

“Akihito…What happen?”

He cast his eyes downwards before responding. “I need to talk to both of you.”

Takato nods and they walk down the steps together and head into the kitchen where Kou is having a midnight snack.“Guys…” Akihito starts, he doesn’t want to explain everything, but they at least deserve to know something. “The demon was here again…”

“What?!” Kou and Takato say in unison, they step forward towards Akihito as if to see if he is hurt or something.

“I-Its alright, I am not hurt. He…he just wanted to talk… I don’t think he ever left…Maybe he’s even still here. He somehow knew about the soulmate spell…I-I think he did something to me.. used some kind of magic… t-to confuse me.”

There was a pause, and Akihito is worried his brothers will press him for more details. But they don't, they only share a concerned look and come over and embraced Akihito.

“That asshole. What did he do to you, Akihito? We’ll find him! Don’t worry!” Kou spoke. “It's scary that he went to when you were by yourself. Probably, cause that bastards know you don’t have an active power.” The middle brother continued.

“Akihito, maybe you should sleep with me in my room tonight,” Takato said. He didn’t want Akihito to feel like they were babysitting him, but he didn’t like the thought of him being alone in his room.

“Yeah, that's a good idea. How about we all sleep in Takato’s room tonight. Just so no scary demon tries to get the drop on us.” Kou responded.

Akihito was actually happy with his brother's suggestions. He really didn’t think he was gonna be able to sleep at all tonight, but it might make it better to have his brothers next to him at least. The two sat Akihito down on the kitchen table, and Kou decided to break out some Hot Chocolate. The more expensive and nicer kind, they kept for special occasions. Kou just knew it would cheer Akihito up.

“It’ll be like a sleepover,” Kou said, trying to lighten the mood as they put a handful of marshmallows in their mugs before they would walk upstairs.

Kou might not have been the sharpest tool in the shed. But it didn't take a rocket scientist to decipher how upset his younger brother was. He and Takato had shared a similar look, which meant they were probably going to talk about it in more depth later. But for now, Kou knew that what Akihito needed was some return to normalcy. So he wouldn't pry, knowing that was the job of the older brother, Takato's job to do. And if He and Takato pried him for answers, it might just make Akihito even more upset. So he'd just wait to get the rundown from Takato later.

They all shuffled into Takato's room, he had a king-size bed in his room, so actually, the three of them could actually fit and sleep comfortably on it. They let Akihito sleep in the middle. They finally snuggled up into bed and fell asleep.

At least, Kou fell asleep. That man could sleep anywhere and through anything. Takato was only pretending to sleep because he knew that Akihito was most definitely not sleeping. Meanwhile, Akihito pretended to sleep because he knew that Takato knew he was pretending to sleep- it was a game they played.

Eventually, Akihito relented, this was his older brother he was hiding something from. It was best, to be honest, and maybe Takato could help.

He opened his eyes, “Takato,” he whispered. Although it wasn’t like Kou was going to be waking up anytime soon.

“Yeah.”

“I-I am afraid..that..that demon..might really be my soulmate.”

“Akihito…” Takato began.

“You don’t understand Takato,” Akihito’s voice raised, and he could feel the tears welling up in him. ”H-he kissed me, and I-I didn’t find it disgusting, or something…I-I think I actually liked it.. I don’t know what to do…How can my soul mate be a demon? I don’t kn-”

Akihito was raving, and he could probably go on and on, but Takato stopped him. “Akihito. Listen to me. We don’t know for certain he’s your soulmate. Just cause he kissed you, it doesn’t mean anything, y-you were probably just reacting as any normal human would. Listen! Just cause a spell told you this is your soulmate- And I am not saying he’s your soulmate, because you can’t convince me of that- but just cause a spell told it's your soulmate. It doesn’t have to mean anything if you don’t want it to. Not everything is written in stone. We have free will to make decisions on our own. I know you're probably… very, very confused, and scared. But Akihito- you will always have your brothers. We know who you really are, and we’ll never let you lose track of that”

Akihito was in full-blown tears now, but he was listening to his brother. Takato wiped his tears away with the blanket and rubbed Akihito’s arm to soothe him.

“You know we will always have your back. And we would never judge you,” Takato added for good measure after a moment, and Akihito had calmed down. He said, “Please. Let’s both try to get some sleep. Maybe we’ll have more answers in the morning.”

__________________

Akihito did eventually fall asleep, but he woke up really early because of Takato’s alarm clock set for work. He felt very drained, but he decided to get up. He wanted to get out of the house alongside Takato and Kou, so he wouldn’t be alone at home while they were away at work.

Akihito decided he would spend the day in a public place, a cafe in town seemed the perfect place to bunker down and do more research about the demon. And while he was at it, he would look up more about soulmates too.

There was a lot of stuff on soulmates actually, myth and lore, science and fiction. Everyone and every culture have different interpretations on the idea of soulmates.

The gist goes something like this, soulmates are people who you have built relationships with throughout many different past lives. Your “souls” have come in contact with each other over and over again in your previous lives. You’re repeatably drawn to each other somehow. As if the universe is always trying to put you together. There are even different types of soulmates, romantic, platonic, even teacher soulmates.

One of the earliest tales of soulmates comes from Plato, the famous classical greek philosopher. According to greek myth, long-ago humans were initially four-armed, four-legged, and two-headed creatures. They displeased the gods in some way, and Zeus decided to split them into two. Cursing them to spend the rest of their lives in search of their other halves.

That's a fairly well-known story, but Plato’s version was, in part, taken from an earlier Egyptian creation myth. In which Atum, the sun god, creates the world. He spits out both Shu, the god of air, and Tefnut, the goddess of moisture. Two separate and polar beings that were formed of one soul. Then Shu and Tefnut, produce Geb, the earth god, and Nut, the sky god. 

Air and water. Earth and Sky. Two polarities together, that form something whole. 

A tale as old as time. Dualities exist in nature and are the origins of many branches of philosophy and cultures. 

In Chinese philosophy, it’s known as Yin and Yang. Two opposites that attract and complement each other.

UGH! All of this information was starting to make Akihito’s head swirl. 

And here he thought soulmates were like the kinds you read about in cheesy romance novels. But actually, everything he was reading made it sound a lot more complicated than that. 

Did this all mean, your soulmate was actually just someone who was your opposite? And well, it wasn’t too hard to imagine that the opposite of a charmed one, a powerful good witch, would be an equally powerful demon.

Did that mean they were really soulmates…

Akihito groaned and slumped into his seat at the coffee shop. He closed his laptop, not wanting to look at the evidence in front of him.

Plus, he had to go to the office today, at the weekly headline. His editor had called him in for a job, and he knew he’d be grateful for the distractions.

He packs up his belongings and heads over to the subway. When he arrives at the office, his Editor is in a good mood, and Mitarai is nearby.

“Akihito, my boy! There you are! Listen we have some good news. The Weekly Headline’s been invited for an exclusive interview. This is huge stuff, so grab your stuff, and let's get going before we are late,” the editor was in such a good mood, that he escorted Akihito and Mitarai towards the elevator.

When they all shuffled into the elevator a pushed the button to the garage. The Editor explained more. He was in such a state of excitement, his pitch slightly higher than normal. He was ravaging and raving in glee.

“We got a call this morning, Akihito. This will be an exclusive access kind of interview. Not many people get these, I can assure you that not everyone can get this kind of high-level access. We are so fortunate. This could easily be the most exciting edition of the Weekly Headline, to date. My predecessor would have killed to get a story like this. It was all just pure luck too. They were simply just impressed with our body of work and called this morning. We’ll head over there in my car. We need our two best photographers- as this is a large expose so, we’ll defiantly need the two of you. I mean I was so excited after I got the call. The two of you will need to be on your best behavior.”

He was still talking as they made their way to his car and packed everything up. Akihito was surprised by how giddy his editor was acting right now. It must have been quite the story or something.

“Alright, Mitarai, and I will play nice. But you still haven’t said where we are going to anyway?”

The editor leaned in as he spoke to the two men and smiled. “Oh, wait until you hear! Hold on to your socks, boys. Cause we are going to the Sion Corporation and interviewing the famous CEO, Asami Ryuichi!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehe Asami springing a trap ;}
> 
> kudos and comments are much appreciated!


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry its been a while (Not to long tho!) was working on some other stuff and so it took me a while to finally get to work on this! 
> 
> Hope you like :DD

Akihito had never heard of Sion Corporation. But he was quickly caught up by both Mitarai and his editor, who scolded him for not knowing anything about business.

“Akihito, you need to start following some of the economic news if you want to become a successful photographer- like me.” Mitarai chided confidently. “I mean how can you not have heard of Sion Corp, they are almost always in the news…I understand it's not as exciting as the political corruption cases, or the crime news you tend to follow- But anything Sion Corp has there hands in, tends to turn to gold.”

They park on the street next to the glass skyscraper building that is Sion Corporation. It’s a large modern building, a landmark sight with architectural significance. Akihito is an artist, after all, so he immediately straps his camera on ands taking pictures before they even enter the building.

He snaps some pictures of the courtyard, a black sign with silver lettering of the Sion Corporation, some of the architectural beautiful aspects of the building, its arches and curves. He takes some shots of some people heading into the building wearing professional-looking suit. The bustle and hustle of this business-center could make for some interesting shots.

He starts to get excited about the interior. If the outside is so artful, then the inside must be just as artfully and aesthetically designed. His mind is already forming on some shots he could potential take, that may be useful for any article getting printed up.

But he soon has to follow Mitarai and his editor inside the building. They talk to a receptionist in the main forum, and they are asked to wait in a sitting area. Akihito is getting into the zone, his mind buzzing with ideas and inspiration. The glass windows and the sun outside make for nice natural lighting.

The main atrium has some oddly tight security, which he notices because the guards keep getting in to his shots. But he doesn’t seem to mind, as he takes pictures.

Eventually, the trio are approached by a group who hand them “guest” lanyards. They explain they will get a tour of the facility. Mitarai starts asking questions right away;

“What about the interview and photoshoot with Asami-sama,” Mitarai cuts in. He called dibs on it in the car, which was fine to Akihito because he’s never had to interviews anyone anyway. But with how pushy he is being, Akihito finds his behavior to be rude.

A neat looking man with crew cut hair and wireframe glasses responds. “About that- this exclusive will be over the course of several days, so today we’ll just do the photoshoot. Which one of you is Takaba Akihito?”

Huh? Akihito thinks he replies with a meek hand raising, Mitarai turns his head around and looks at Akihito in bafflement.

“Yes, good, come along with me,” the glasses man responds. “Asami-sama requested personally to have you take his photos for this exclusive reporting.”

“Me?” Akihito says an octave higher.

He can’t believe whats he’s hearing. But before he can get a word in, he is ushered away in almost too quick-a-fashion. Two guards behind him and the glasses man in front of him lead him away from his editor and Mitarai. Akithito turns around and sees Mitarai looking on, with a seething expression on his face.

“I-I guess I’ll see you guys later..” He calls after them as they escort him into a glass elevator, it’s the private elevator he notices.

He starts to feel beamingly happy. Serves you right, Mitarai! I’ve been personally chosen to take pictures of this CEO. He starts to wonder why, though? Maybe this CEO has a keen eye for photography- that he knows talent when he sees it and has picked Akihito to personally be the one responsible for overseeing this important and exclusive photoshoot.

He is reminded that Mitarai mentioned something about how this CEO does not allow people to photograph him. And is known to be very careful with his image. Though it only makes Akihito all the more happy, this CEO is entrusting him with this photoshoot. Maybe that CEO will offer him a job, or something! He is so pleased with himself.

The elevator is moving up very fast, since it does not stop at the other floors. Its a nice elevator, made of glass so he can admire the atrium as it moves up, and then the view it gives of the outside. He steps forward and grabs on to the railing so he can lean against it.

His powers of premonition are ignited through touch, and when he touches the railing, it triggers a vision. His whole body shudders.

He sees, the golden-eyed demon right in front of him. The raven man is smirking, and a fireball is brandished from his palm.

Akihito is pulled from his vision, and he gasps for breath. His reaction was so sharp that the two guards in the room look at him worriedly and ask him if he’s okay.

Akihito chuckles nervously and says something about vertigo. But his heart is pounding like no tomorrow.

Why now? Does that mean he’s gonna run into that golden-eyed demon again, maybe he’s even nearby. What timing, here he is suppose to be having an important photoshoot for his job. And WHAM charmed one problems coming and possibly ruining his career.

He couldn’t tell from the vision where it was talking place or much else, his mind is still trying to scramble together all that he has seen. It’s always hard to tell from his visions how soon it's going to happen. It could be right away, in a few hours, or it could be a tomorrow. He’s hoping its tomorrow, because he first needs to do this photoshoot.

His mind is still racing as the elevator reaches the top floor, he is thinking he should call or text Takato and Kou and tell them what he has seen. But he is quickly escorted out of the elevator and down a corridor, he’s not paying much attention to his surroundings because he is so nervous. The vision has completely set him off of his work groove. 

Double door are opened for him, and the glasses man says to wait inside and that the CEO will be coming soon. The doors close behind him.

Akihito is stunned to silence when he enters the room. It must be the CEO’s office because it is unbelievable huge. Floor to ceiling windows on the back wall, theres a sitting area with modern furniture. A huge mahogany desk in the middle, set back so its closer to the window. All the trappings, that one might expect to find in a CEO’s office. A fancy gold fountain pen, huge bookcases lining the walls. A mini-bar in one of the corners.

Although Akihito notices something odd about the office. For one, while it is nice, it's has a very unpersonalized and sterile feeling. No personal items, like family photos on the desk. Or even something like a picture of the CEO shaking hands with the prime minister or something to that effect. Everything in its proper place and perfectly in order, no unkempt looking files on the desk or even ash in the ashtray.

Akihito shakes it off and heads towards the window, beginning to admire the view.

When he suddenly remembers he should call Takato and Kou and tell them about his vision, he was so flabbergasted about the office he completely forgot. Now was a good time to do it, since the CEO wasn’t here. Akihito reaches into his pocket and pulls out his phone. He about to dial Takato's number when a voice behind makes him jolt- 

“Hello, little witch,” the baritone voice says playfully.

Akihito turns around, and he is in such a state of shock that his phone slips out of his hands. The golden-eyed demon is sitting casually on the sofa behind Akihito. His legs are crossed, and he’s holding a box of cigarettes. He takes one out carefully. He’s wearing another perfectly tailored three piece suit, different then the one he was in yesterday, this one is navy blue.

“H-How did you find me here?” Akihito stammers out.

His mind is already on the premonition he had, the fireball the demon brandished on him in his vision is all he is thinking about. He had already concluded the demon was trying to kill him in his vision- and here the demon appears. Alarm bells ring in Akihito’s mind.

He looks at the door on the other-side and then back to the demon in front of him. If he could just make a clean bolt to the door, then maybe he could escape. He bolts towards the door, but he hears the demon speak again before he can even reach.

“I thought you were here to take my picture,” The demon says nonchalantly.

But the statement has Akihito frozen in place, and he turns around in astonishment.

“Y-your Asami?!”

Still sitting casually on the sofa, a cigarette abruptly lights itself, and it hangs loosely from his mouth. He gives Akihito a teasing shrug of his shoulder and a smirk. “The one and only,” he responds.

Akihito’s mouth feels like its fallen to the floor.

A demon with a day job!! 

Actually, now that he thought about it wasn’t that much of an oddity. The Charmed One’s had run in to demons and warlocks before who carried on seemingly normal lives on the surface. But so far, almost all of them had been part of covers, a way of hiding in plain sight. None of them had been CEO’s of a fortune 500 company, and had such a public persona's.

Akihito’s mind is trying to wrap itself around that, but he is also immediately struck with the reminder that Mitarai and his editor are someone where in this building- the DEMONS building! It’s like a light bulb goes off in his head, the “exculsive” interview that was a rarity, how Akihito was specifically chosen to do the photo shoot, and how he is conveniently separated from the other two. 

_It’s a trap! There is no interview or photoshoot, this was all part of some plot._

“What are you gonna do to my friends downstairs!” Akihito fumes.

It’s one thing to get a charmed one laced up in a trap, but to drag his editor and Mitarai in to this - who can’t possibly defend themselves. Thats a low blow.

Asami sighs. He gestures to the sofa across from Akihito. “Sit down.” He says calmly. Akihito does as he’s told because he is thinking of his friends, who's lives are in danger. Although he doesn’t stop giving Asami a fiery glare as he sits across from him.

“I am not here to hurt your friends.” There’s an honesty to Asami tone that Akihito is not expecting. “They are just getting their tour, as was promised them. I only brought you here… because...I just wanna talk.”

 _Talk? A demon that wants to talk?_ Akihito can’t believe his ears.

“Were soulmates afterall…” Asami continues rather slyly.

“Y-your a demon? How can you be my soulmate?” Akihito says defiantly, still hotly denying everything he has learned.

Asami gives a light chuckle, “Your still gonna deny it? Even after everything that happened yesterday? You should be honest with yourself- your body certainly was.”

Akihito flushes in embarrassment, as he remembers the kiss in the bathroom that only happened yesterday.

“T-that doesn’t prove anything. I refused to believe your my soulmate,”

“Don’t be ridiculous- you're a charmed one, your magic is powerful. You used a spell to find your soulmate, and I appeared right in front of you. What other explanation is there?… You should know by now, little witch, that everything happens for a reason. That’s magic for you.” Asami tone has a hint of annoyance to it now, as he lectures Akihito.

“T-that still- UGH! You're a demon, and I am a witch those things just don’t go together!” Akihito fumes again, he doesn’t want to listen to anything this man is saying.

“Opposites attract, it’s only natural, “Asami says it so matter-of-factly, and he takes another exhales of his cigarette. He takes the cigarette out and leans forwards and, in a softer tone says; 

“I can’t help it anymore than you, we’re drawn to each other- like a moth to a flame.”

Their eyes lock, and Asami pauses and stands up and sits next to Akihito. His golden-eyes never leaving Akihito’s hazel ones.

Akihito can’t will himself to move, or to even look away. Asami sits down next to him- too close for comfort. So close that he can smell the cigarettes on his mouth.

“I know you felt it too. Like it’s too irresistible to ignore.” He cups Akihito’s chin in his hand, and for a moment, his eyes wonder down to Akihito’s soft lips and then back to his eyes. “Even now- despite all your instincts screaming at you…you just can’t..” He leans in, so their lips are an inch away “..help yourself.”

And he captures Akihito’s mouth in his. He scoops up a fist full of Akihito’s hair and pulls him into the kiss.

 _Mine._ The older man thinks triumphantly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kudos and comments are always appreciated~
> 
> I'll try to get a continuation on this as soon as i can !!!


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So here is part two! I didn't wanna leave you guys hanging! As soon as I posted the last chapter- i was like why i am ending the chapter in the middle of an important scene! But I also wasn't finished with this one until now, and I didn't want it to be one big chapter! 
> 
> anyway, I'll be back hopefully soon! As always, ENJOY! :D

Asami presses Akihito closer to him. It’s unexplainably warm having this little ball of fire in his arms. It feels equally as warm as when he brings a fireball to his palm, although this is much sweeter and far more gratifying.

He got a little too handsy and immediately regret's it. Because now Akihito, seems to have come to his sense and is pushing Asami away.

“Hey- Stop it!” Akihito slips out from his grasp and stands up. “T-this isn’t what I want.”

Asami expression turns annoyed. A part of him is tired of being denied, and another part of him is worn that Akihito is clearly not listening to him at all.

“This isn’t what you want?” He starts. The tone of ire in his voice is very noticeable. “Well, maybe you should have thought about that before you tried to find your soulmate.”

Akihito responds begrudgingly, “What’s that suppose to mean?”

“It means - Take responsibility. You’re the one that did the spell, Akihito. If you weren’t going to _like_ the outcome of it- you shouldn’t have done it. You summoned me first! Not the other way around. If it weren’t for you, both of us could have been living our lives, like we always did. None of us would be any the wiser,” Asami stands up now, his face looks cold and harsh now.

“and for your information.. I didn’t ask for this _either_!….I have a reputation to uphold, y’know! How do you think I feel, huh? Do you think I am happy that my soulmate is the _runt_ of the Charmed ones? That my soulmate is some goodie-two-shoes witch. It’s the last thing I expected to happen to me, too,” he practically growls at Akihito.

But then he sighs heavily, and his features get softer, and so does his voice, “But I don’t spend my life denying who I am. Or what I want…and I can’t help myself..either.” He steps closer to Akihito, “You can’t tell me that you’re not at least a little bit… curious…cause I am.” He leans in for another kiss.

But Akihito puts a finger over his mouth,

“Wait, wait,” Akihito says.

Asami narrows his eyes a bit in annoyance because once again he is being denied. But he also realizes that Akihito is now trying to say something to him.

“I-I don’t know what to say..” Akihito’s cast his eyes down, and his face flushes.

Akihito was real at a loss for words. He was not expecting Asami to be so eloquent, and quite sincere… look it him calling a demon sincere! Takato would be having a fit right now if he knew about this. But also what Asami said was surprisingly spot-on about a lot of things.

“I-I am not ready…and frankly, how can I trust you. You attacked us in the attic. You bring me here as some kind of trap- and I don’t even know if you could be hurting my friends. and you jump me in the bathroom!” He said that the last one rather scornfully. “and y’know you keep kissing and touching me, which is not helping your case.”

“I know. I attacked you and your brothers when we first met. But can you really blame me? I was just as confused as you probably were. I blinked on my own, and there were three witches in front of me- and I reacted as anyone might. I brought you here because.. now you know my name, you know where I work..hell- you can even google me if you want to.” He holds both of Akihito’s hands as he continues talking.

“You have my word. Your friends downstairs are not in danger. They never were. And your magazine can have its scoop about Sion Corporation, if that's what you want” His reply is rather kind. “….and as for the kissing.. I definitely won't be apologize for that.” He says with a sly smirk.

“I don’t expect this to happen overnight. Trust has to be earned. But guess what, that goes both ways…I know you and your brothers were talking about trying to find a way to vanquish me. So how about a truce.”

Akihito thought about it for a moment, he guessed it couldn’t hurt to try. But he was also thinking about his premonition- where he had seen Asami brandishing a fireball on him. He had assumed it was to kill him. So it must be that any kind of ‘truce’ wasn’t the real deal.

But, at this point, he would also say anything to get out. So he reluctantly agreed.

“I agree, and I’ll tell my brothers to…do so too.” He actually was starting to think they would definitely not agree, but they would at least talk about it.

“Alright, then. You can go back down to your…coworkers. Tell them that you got to meet with me, but the photoshoot had to be rescheduled. Because I had an important meeting or something, Kirishima will escort you out.”

With that, Akihito wanted to leave the office. But he hadn’t forgotten he had dropped his phone earlier when he meant to call Takato. He goes over to it and picks it up. He looked at it briefly and sees- he had finished dialing Takato’s number, and it had been on a call with him the entire time. His heart almost leaped out of his chest, but he made sure to compose himself- So Asami wouldn’t see and put the phone back into his pocket.

He hurried out of the office before Asami could try anything. The glasses man was outside waiting for him. They went down the elevator together, and he was dropped back off in the central atrium.

Once out of sight, he took out his cell phone and checked it. The call had lasted the entire conversation.

Oh, no. It was worse than he could have ever predicted. Of course, something crazy stupid like this would happen. His phone made a ding noise, and it was a text from Takato sent five minutes ago.

It reads a simple, “Call me, as soon as it’s safe to do so.”

His heart sank. Damn, he’ll have some explaining to do. He sent back a quick message saying, “I’m fine, I am just waiting on Mitarai and my editor to get back, and then I’ll call.” Just so that Takato wasn’t waiting and getting worried.

A few moments past and Mitarai and the editor returned with the group they were with, who had given them the tour. They rush over to Akihito, and he had to explain that Asami got called away and that they were planning to reschedule.

They were abuzz with questions about the interview, but Akihito was in no mood to answer. He told them he’d catch them up later. They walked out Sion’s doors, and Akihito excused himself and told them he’d get a ride home.

Outside of the offices of Sion, Akihito called his brother. Takato answered on the first ring.

“Akihito, what the hell? What happened?! I thought you butt dialed me, but then… it was that demon again, right?!” He quickly bombards him with questions.

“How much did you hear…?” Akihito wearily asks although he can guess by Takato’s slightly pissed, slightly worried jumble that he’s probably heard most of it.

“I heard everything, Akihito… Do you really think this guy is your soulmate? I-I just can’t believe it. So what … it doesn’t mean — it doesn’t mean you owe him anything. He’s a demon! You can’t believe anything he says.”

“I-I know! Takato just listen. He’s calling for a truce.. I think we should take it. It’s not like we kill things outright anyway- only if they attack first. And plus, we don’t even know how to vanquish him. We haven’t even ID’ed him in the Book of Shadows yet. The reason I called you in the first place, is because before he met with me I had a premonition. I saw him brandishing a fireball at me. So I don’t trust him. Perhaps this truce is a ruse…but..”

“You had a vision he was trying to kill you! Akihito! And you still agreed to a truce how co-“

“Wait, that's not what I said! You're being hyperbolic. I-I don’t know what was happening in my vision, but yes.. there was a fireball in his hand.” Akihito tried to interject.

“No, you listen to me now, Akihito! How do you think he set up this little meeting.. think about it? He knows who you are. He knows who we all are probably. He found out our names, where we work, where we live. And he did this all within a night? Does that not concern you? He knew exactly how to get you to come out, and he knew exactly what to say to you. He’s playing you!” Takato was clearly very upset, but he was understandably worried about Akihito, who had a tendency to be trusting.

“I-I know. I do know. but.. - listen. I don’t know how to explain it. But Takato, everything happens for a reason. We know that better than anyone. The Book of Shadows told me to do this spell- remember. It wanted us to meet for some reason! And I don’t think it was just so we could vanquish him.”

“Soulmates aren’t just about opposites attracting-they complement each other. Which means… I have to believe that somewhere…. Somewhere there is good in him. And maybe fate has put us together so- So I can make him good. I don’t know. But.. I have to try.” Akihito continued.

______________________

Asami is enjoying the end of his cigarette.

He is watching Akihito from a camera feed pulled up on his desk. A part of him wishes to blink downstairs to the courtyard below so he can listen in on what must be an illuminating conversation. But, decides against it.

With Akihito’s animated responses, Asami guesses he must be on the phone with one of his brothers. Probably that older one- particularly nosy one.

He noticed the phone on the ground, during their conversation. Akihito had clearly not realized his call had gone through. With Asami’s elevated hearing skills, he knew someone had picked up, on the other end, and was likely hearing their entire conversation.

There could be some advantages to that. They had heard Asami acting like a perfect gentleman, so perhaps it would lower their guard…

Asami is quite confident his words will have an affect on Akihito.

Oh sweet, sweet naive little witch. So easily swayed. So trusting and docile. So ripe for the taking.

And there is no mistake- Akihito will be his. For that, Asami is confident. He has already worked out much of a plan. He understands a soulmate bond- their soulmate bond will be thicker than the bond of brotherhood. A most important detail.

It is true that “everything happens for a reason”, as he reminded Akihito. But for Asami, he is convinced that fate has brought them together for one reason only. So that Asami can do what no demon, warlock, or whatever forces of evil have ever done.

Break up the Charmed Ones.

Albeit, it will be done in a way that no-one will expect. From the inside.

It’s all fits too perfectly. Once Akihito is bonded to him, Asami will be able to take the powers of his two other brothers.

To Asami, it was certainly not a coincidence that Akihito was the one with the power of premonitions- a non-active power. A perfect piece of good fortune. The two brothers' powers will make excellent additions to his own skills. No one will be able to question his authority, with the ability to freeze time and telekinesis.

And while seeing the future is powerful, once Akihito is his, that power is as good as his anyway.

Akihito will net him the biggest prize of them all. A Charmed One turning to the dark side, that he can be easily bent to his will. Something like that- it will be Asami’s crowning glory.

If he plays this right, he’ll cement his power in the underworld- both underworlds, that is.

And It’s all far too easy. He thinks with a satisfied smirk.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I really like the idea that while akihito is like i am gonna bring him to the good side, Asami is simultaneously thinking he can bring akihito to the dark side. 
> 
> I feel like a lot of the finder series is often this tug of war or a battle of wills or something- between good and evil and which one is going to succeed or not. Will Asami drag akihito down to his depths, or will Akihito pull Asami into the light. In canon- its Honestly i think right now its at a bit of a draw/impasse. as both i feel are actually pretty morale grey that actually life is not as clear cut as light and dark.
> 
> Anyway! Kudos and comments are always much appreciated<3


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just wanted you to know i haven't forgotten about Charmed, even though i've been working on a new finder series! So have no fear! I am back with an update! And things are just getting interesting!
> 
> I feel like there is SO much dialogue in this episode! but everyone has a lot to say.

As Akihito walked into the manor, he saw both Kou and Takato waiting for him in the main hall.

Oh no. He thought, now he was about to get ganged up by both of them.

“Akihito, are you alright,” Kou stepped forward concern all over his face.

“I am fine. Really. I know you guys are concerned, and you probably have a lot to say. But I think you should let me explain. This is my problem after all and-“

Takato interrupted, “Akihito, I think you should listen to us. I called Yamazaki at the police precinct to ask about an Asami that the CEO of a Sion Corporation -“

“You did what?” Akihito called out. A part of him felt it was going a little overboard to talk to their old cop friend, one who didn’t know they were witches and get them involved with a known demon.

“Akihito, Asami found out where you worked! Let’s not pretend that he didn’t do a lot of digging into all of us. But oh, I found out about him, alright. He’s not just the CEO of Sion Corporation and the owner of a bunch of popular high-class nightclubs and hotels in Toyko. Underneath it all, he’s a thought to be a powerful SMUGGLER, Akihito. A drug dealer and a kingpin in Toyko’s underworld.” Takato revealed. He was clearly pretty livid but trying his best to hold back.

Akihito's eyes widen in horror at that. What the hell?

“The police have been investigating him for YEARS Akihito, but they could never find anything concrete. Did he mentioned that little tidbit of information to you when you agreed to some kind of truce with him.”

Akihito was struck into dumbfounded silence. He didn’t think his heart could sink any lower in his chest than it had already. It wasn’t enough to “the powers that be”, that he was demon- they had to make him a crime lord too!!

“I-I don't know what to say.” He said he could feel his face going pale in distress and nausea churning in his stomach.

“You can’t trust anything that comes out of his mouth. He’s not like any demon we’ve faced before. He’s lived among humans. He knows how to manipulate people. For all we know, this soulmate spell that we cast was one of his tricks.”

“B-but how?”

Kou spoke up finally, he was doing his best to mediate the situation by staying level-headed instead of angry like Takato clearly was.

“Akihito, we know you’ve just fallen under his spell, and it’s not really your fault. But, we have fought demons in the past that have strange abilities that we don’t fully understand how they work. Remember when that demon used ‘persuasion’ on you, and made you think you had a premonition that Takato was in trouble. But it was all just fake, and they tried to trap you instead. Or that other demon that made an illusion to make us think we were in this fancy apartment. But as soon as he left, it was just an empty room. Asami could be doing something similar. Making us think that we were doing some kind of soulmate spell.”

“We have no idea what kind of evil tricks he could be up too. But the premonition you had, was clearly supposed to warn you that he can’t be trusted. But we can put a stop to it before it even happens.”

Akihito was zoning out. It was like everything was happening in slow motion. He didn’t know how to explain what he was feeling. But all that was running through his mind now was that moment in the bathroom when Asami’s lips and hands where on him, and he felt so overwhelmed.

Sure, at first, he had convinced himself that it must have been some magic that had caused him to act that way. To kiss him back, to be aroused by him, he thought it was fake.

But when he thought about it, it didn’t feel the same as when a demon had used ‘persuasion’ on him. During that time, when he was getting tricked, there was a voice inside his head. He later distinguished them as not his own. But it told him to think this way, and to do this and that.

But, when Asami kissed him, the voice inside of him was his own, and it was begging him to stop. The opposite of what persuasion had done. It was as if all his instincts were screaming at him as Asami had said.

It wasn’t persuasion. For that, Akihito was sure.

It wasn't exactly that he believed Asami, hell he really didn’t trust the man. Finding out that he was also a known kingpin, only heighten the mistrust and suspicion he felt.

But… he couldn’t deny that he had felt something. A spark every time they touched, an unnatural pull to be near to him, The butterflies in Akihito’s stomach when he got to close for comfort. The way the man looked at him in eyes with such an intensity, that it felt like the oxygen had gotten sucked out of his lungs.

It was something that went beyond “persuasion” or the typical kind of tricks that demons played.

Akihito had thought long and hard about it. He still wasn’t exactly happy about it. But he knew a part of him was in denial. The universe had screwed him over. That was for sure. But the only explanation was that Asami was indeed his soulmate. There were no tricks when it came to these inexplicable and vexing feeling he had every time he thought about the man.

And as crazy as it sounded, Akihito was starting to really believe that Asami was the innocent that the universe had sent for Akihito to help.

Maybe ‘innocent’ seemed too strong of a word. Cause he doubted Asami was anything but innocent, but there must have been good in him.

They weren’t just opposites, that's an oversimplification. Things weren’t as black and white as that. In Yin and Yang, the dark has a piece of the light inside. Just as the light, has a part of the darkness inside it too.

Demons were usually pulled by an innate instinct to kill and to kill witches in particular. But Asami had been given two chances to kill or maim Akihito, or to even force himself on him.

Akihito had seen, first hand, his hungry lust-filled eyes in the bathroom- he had seen how much Asami had wanted it. He had the opportunity to do it at his office. When Akihito would have been helpless to stop him, where his brothers weren’t around the corner to help him.

Yet he hadn’t.

That was a clear sign that Asami was maybe unlike any demon they had ever faced before. A demon that hadn’t outright tried to kill Akihito and even wanted peace was a rarity. Proof enough that there must be a good side to him.

But on the flip side, he also couldn’t deny that his brothers were right on some level. Asami was a demon, and he was also apparently a crime lord too. He was clearly manipulating the situation to his own benefit. Which was making it all the more confusing?

What did he have to benefit? What did he have to gain- Akihito’s trust? Why did he even want that in the first place…

Because they were soulmates….

“We need to vanquish him.” Takato’s voice brought Akihito back to the present.

_WHAT?_

“Wait. But we don’t even know how.” He protested, maybe a little too soon.

“He has to be in the Book of Shadows, somewhere. We must be looking in the wrong place.” Takato continued. His determination suddenly put Akihito off balance. He was very, very serious about this, wasn’t he?

“Wait, wait. I-I don’t want this.” Akihito started he cast down his eyes and rubbed his forehead.

“Akihito, once he’s gone, you’ll see it was all a trick,” Takato said.

“But you don’t really, know!” Akihito snapped suddenly. Everything was just happening to fast, that his brain couldn’t process. “You're saying it could be this or it could be that. But there are blatantly obvious holes in those stories that make no sense. The fact is… y-you don’t really know, you can’t be a hundred percent certain- because I don’t know! I don’t know what's real or not anymore.” He said that much firmer then he thought it would sound, and it spurred him to continue.

“Y-you- you don’t know- w-what I am going through. I don’t trust myself…and.. You're asking me to choose to destroy someone who could be my soulmate. There has to be another way, Takato. We don’t have to do this.”

“But what about your vision. You can’t just ignore th-”

“Yeah! And what if my vision only happens because we’re sitting here plotting to kill him! That's how the future works sometimes! We should take the parley he is offering, we don’t have to choose this way. I don’t want to gamble with this.. I don’t want to gamble with my soulmate.” He was getting a little teary-eyed now, he didn’t like fighting with his brothers. He didn’t like all the unknowns.

He realized this was the first time he had admitted out loud that Asami was his soulmate, to both of his brothers.

Takato and Kou gave each other looks, but both of their expressions soften. Kou was the first to break the silence.

“Akihito..I know this must be hard.” He gestured for everyone to sit down, thinking it might calm everyone down, and cooler heads will prevail.

“But you have to understand how this looks to us. We’re just worried that you're going to get your self hurt, not just from a fireball or something like that. But from whatever game Asami is playing… maybe it's true you guys are soulmates. But the fact is, he’s a demon, and you’re a witch, and that will inevitably lead to some irreconcilable differences.”

“I-I know that..But let’s not rush to conclusions.. I don’t think he wants to hurt me. As crazy as this sounds, I think he’s acting just as irrational as I am. But I know he’s lying about stuff, he must have something up his sleeve.”

Takato suddenly felt like a light bulb went off. “Wait! I have an idea. Maybe we don’t have to vanquish him. But we can put a stop to some of his games. What if we trap him? And get the answers we want ourselves. We could use the crystal cage on him. Then we can find out what he’s really up to. “

“That's an idea,” Kou chimed in.

Akihito was not so sure about it. At least they had turned down a notch and weren’t immediately calling for his vanquishing. Still, he also wasn’t exactly thrilled with the idea of trapping and interrogating Asami, either.

But maybe it was best to get it out of the way now. If Asami was really planning something, which all three brothers could agree that he was, then maybe it was best to get it out in the open.

“Fine. But we're not hurting him, right? We are just asking questions. Also...I have an idea about how to trap him.”

__________________________

Asami didn’t expect his little witch to call so soon after their meeting. He was sitting in his office, doing paperwork when the call came in.

Kirishima had given Akihito his card with his private number on it. He thought it would take a few days, at the very least, but now he could move his timetable up. A pleasant surprise!

“I am very surprised you called so soon, little witch..” He said, answering the phone.

“I-I’d like to meet up.” Akihito said in a low voice.

Asami could almost feel that pink hue of his flushed cheeks that were likely all over the boy’s face right now. He vaguely wondered how long it had taken him to pluck up the courage to call and use those words.

Asami raised an eyebrow and responded, “Oh?”

He was going to milk this for all it was worth.

There was a pause on the other line until finally, Akihito spoke again, “I-I want…I want to see you.”

“Right now?” Asami said, his lips forming a smile. “Isn’t it rather late for a chat?”

“Asami…can you meet me or not,” Akihito said, his voice rising in annoyance.

“Well, can I at least know the reason you want to meet. I am at work right now-“

“I want to meet…” he paused again, “A-at a.. hotel.”

Asami didn’t answer right away. Letting Akihito burn with embarrassment was far too entertaining.

“I see.” He said playfully. “We can meet at one of mine…if that's what you want.”

“No!” Akihito protested a bit too early. “I-I mean I..It should be on neutral ground..I-I wouldn’t feel safe in one of yours. T-the Sheraton Bay…in an hour?”

Asami couldn’t help but smirk, his little witch had gotten very bold. “Alright, in an hour. See you soon then, little witch….”

Akihito only gave a hum in reply and hung up.

Asami sat up from his seat and called Kirishima in through the intercom. The secretary promptly walked in, as Asami was making himself a drink at the minibar.

“He called for a meeting, an hour from now,” Asami said, taking a sip of his whiskey he had poured for himself. “I imagine they have something planned for me. So ready the men… Make sure you tell them that nobodies to get hurt. Do you understand, they have to tread carefully. If Akihito gets caught in the crossfire-“

He stopped himself because somehow, just the thought made his blood boil at such an alarming rate and in a way he wasn’t expecting. Damn. They really were soulmates, weren’t they?

He began again, “they will feel my wrath…- and don’t come too early either. Timing will be everything. This is only the beginning. We have to turn his anger towards his brothers…. And then… then he’ll be mine.”


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter, shit hits the ceiling. 
> 
> Sorry, it took me a bit longer on this one, I was supposed to have it done by yesterday but it just wasn't done. It's also a bit longer than usual. I hope you enjoy! ❤️❤️

Asami arrived on time at the Sheraton Bay. He knows Akihito’s brothers have likely plotted something. It was the only reason why a usually shy Akihito would dare to ask Asami to come to a hotel.

He wasn’t entirely sure what it was, but he was sure he could use it to his advantage. As much as Akihito protested, deep down, the little witch was conflicted.

He had read the reports his men had produced on Akihito. He read the file about a troubled teenager who got into brawls and stole. Sure it was mostly small-time, petty crime kind of things—a bit of youthful rebellion that had him in trouble with local law enforcements. But, Akihito was always the black sheep of the family, the youngest and the most wayward of the three.

The two other brothers had stable jobs, balanced relationships, full-fledged adult lives. While Akihito was working a gig job as a freelancer photographer- an unconventional occupation, to say the least. He worked odd hours. He went after criminals and corrupt officials. He had a bit of an adrenaline junkie side, that had stayed with him from his youth.

Akihito hadn’t always been so close with his brothers. For a short time, he lived in Osaka, and by all accounts, it was because he was trying to get away from them. That was before he had his powers, but the bond of brotherhood had grown since then. They got their abilities and started working together. And thus, the Charmed Ones were made.

But it could be broken. Akihito was the weakest link, not just because he had no active powers to speak of. But because he was already receptive to the dark side, as much as he was receptive to the good side. All he would need was a little push in the right direction and that's where Asami would come in.

And all he’d have to do was twist the screw a bit and muddy the water.

He knocked at the hotel door, Akihito had texted him the number and had informed him he was already there. Akihito came to the door and opened it carefully, and let Asami inside.

“Asami…” Akihito says quietly. He looks anxious. Probably already racked with guilt about lying, or whatever it was he had planned.

Asami looks around the room, only briefly, for he doesn’t want Akihito to think he suspected anything.

“Akihito…” he responds. He stays by the entrance, removing his shoes.

“I’m surprised you planned this, I was hoping you’d call.. but I didn’t think you’d call so soon.” He says teasingly, and he stands over Akihito, “I thought you said you didn’t want me kissing or touch you…inviting me here…you're going to give a man the wrong idea.” He leans in and pecks Akihito on the lips.

Akihito doesn’t protest, and his face flushes, but he still looks nervous. So Asami continues, he brushes his hand on Akihito’s face and pecks again but for longer.

“Not trying to run away from me tonight,” he says slyly, and he takes off his jacket and puts it on a nearby bench.

Akihito doesn’t respond, but Asami cups his chin and kisses him again, but its deeper this time. He’s gonna get the most of this before he’ll pretend to fall into Akihito’s trap. The kiss turns much deeper, and he holds Akihito by the small of his back.

Asami lets go, and he caresses Akihito’s face again and strokes his hair out his eyes. “Akihito…I know you're nervous…but I want you to know that I would never hurt you” He is telling the truth when he says that, and he continues. “I know you don’t have a reason to trust me, but at least... trust that all... all I want is this.”

And he locks their lips again, its an open mouth kiss. He pushes Akihito into his chest. For a moment, Asami thinks perhaps he can delay the plan even more and just take Akihito here in the hallway and altogether avoid whatever trap he has set up. It's a tempting thought, especially with how docile and conflicted Akihito already looks. But delayed gratification will be best.

He pulls away from the kiss, still gripping Akihito’s chin, “Say something Akihito,” he says.

Akihito darts his eye down, but he can’t hide the pink hue in his cheeks. “I-I just wanna get this over with.”

“You don’t have to make it seem as bad as that, Akihito..” He holds both of Akihito's hands, “Here.. we're just two people…two soulmates..” He pulls Akihito’s chin up so there at eye level.

“I’ll be gentle.” He can’t help the devilish grin that almost instinctively comes out when he says it, “Especially since your acting so sweet,” He pecks Akihito’s mouth again.

The look Akihito gives him- Ugh the guilt. Asami has him hook, line and sinker.

He steps out of the entryway and towards the hallway. He’s tugging Akihito along behind him, and he smoothly removes his tie and unbuttons a few buttons, as if nothing is wrong, and he is merely guiding Akihito towards the bedroom.

He turns around halfway through the hallway and gives Akihito one last deep kiss. One that involves a bit of tongue, since he feels he’ll get away with that one. He gives Akihito one last breathtaking kiss before the games will begin.

Asami steps away from Akihito, and seemingly unknowingly steps into the trap that the brothers have set for him.

Its a crystal cage, a circle of five crystals that are magically enhanced to create an electrified cage around whoever is inside it.

As soon as Asami crosses into the trap, he is shocked with a jolt of electricity. The lightning forms a collar around his neck and pushes him to his knees. It burns and stings him, and sends a powerful jolt of electricity through him. He howls in pain and slumps over.

He loses his breath for a moment, and his vision blurs, and he falls over unconscious.

_________________________

Akihito claps his mouth, in shock at seeing Asami getting electrified by the crystal cages. But he is helpless to do anything, as he watches him fall over unconscious. He sees his body is slightly smoking from getting jolted with electricity.

“Takato! What did you do to him?!” He yells. 

This was not part of the plan.

Once the electricity has gone down and it's safe to touch Asami. He rushes down on his knees to him and turns Asami over to see if he’s okay.

Kou and Takato, who were hiding in the bathroom, come out.

“That..that wasn’t supposed to happen… it was just supposed to get him stuck in the cage.” Takato tries.

Akihito is checking for a pulse. He’s so frantic, and he's relieved when he finds it. But he’s hardly listening to Takato, “I thought we weren’t supposed to hurt him!!” Akihito yells.

“We weren’t- I-I don’t know what happened! They weren’t supposed to do that, only trap him.” Takato tries again. He’s baffled, as he had set the trap himself, and it definitely was not supposed to shock Asami like that. Not suppose to knock him unconscious.

“Maybe we should get him out of here, take him back to the manor.” Kou tries, he looks worriedly over at Takato. 

It takes them a bit longer to haul an unconscious Asami into their car- he’s heavier then he looks. Akihito sits in the back with Asami and places his head on his lap as they go back to the manor.

He strokes his hair and face, as worry builds in him. This wasn’t supposed to happen like this. He just wanted Asami to answer some of his questions. Not hurt him! He notices there's a dark bruises already forming around Asami’s neck. How could it have ended like this?

When they get back to the manor, Takato wants to bring him upstairs to the attic and wants to put him back in the crystal cage so they can continue the interrogation as they had planned.

“He’s not gonna be happy when he wakes up, the cage is just a precaution. Akihito.” Takato argues.

“Yeah, and he’s gonna be even angrier if he wakes up in the attic, and we act even more hostile towards him. This is exactly what I feared would happen- now, my vision is definitely going to come true.” Akihito is angry now. He feels like he let his brothers talk him into his whole trap thing- when he should have just dealt with Asami himself. And now Asami’s actually been hurt, by some stupid mistake. They’ve taken it too far now. The cage was only supposed to restrain him not to hurt him.

“That's not a good thing. He’s going to attack, Akihito, or blink away. I am sorry, but we need to take precautions. We’re taking him upstairs.” Takato demands.

As they get upstairs, Asami begins to rouse. They place him on the ground around another crystal cage. Asami groans as he starts to wake back up. His hand moves over to rub his forehead. Akihito kneels down, he can’t touch him through the cage, but he wants to make sure Asami’s alright.

Asami groans again, and he blinks his eyes open.

“Are you okay?” Akihito says, concerned.

Asami looks up at Akihito for a moment as he’s sitting up. He has a look that's a mix of pure betrayal, pain, anger, and even a bit of sadness on his face. Akihito’s heartaches in guilt the moment he sees it. But just as quickly Asami looks away from Akihito and rubs the dark bruise on his neck.

He replies in almost a growl, “I am fine,”

Asami stands up in the cage and avoids eye contact with Akihito. “It's always awkward meeting the family, I suppose.” He says in a sarcastic but harsh tone. “And here I thought we were all gonna play nice…if you wanted a fight-” He brandishes the blue fireball, “I would have given you one,” he sneers directly at Takato.

It’s precisely what Akihito saw in his vision. But this time he won't sit back and let anything more happen.

“Stop it- both of you. Please! This has gone on long enough.” He steps in between Takato and Asami. He turns to Asami, “Asami, please- this wasn’t supposed to happen this way.”

Asami looks at him again with that heartbreaking look, and he turns his head away, but he extinguishes the fireball. Akihito turns back to Takato.

“Akihito. Look at him! He was ready to attack us!” Takato says. He looks at Kou for support, but Kou gives him a look that says, ‘even I am not sure anymore.’

“If we let him out now, who knows what he’s gonna do, or he could blink away- We just need to hold him here a little bit longer until we get some answers.” Takato continues.

“Like what kind of answers..like what kind of demon I am? So you can look me up in your little Book of Shadows and kill me?” Asami interjects angrily.

Akihito turns around and looks at Takato, “Takato…was that your plan all along.”

Takato looks as Asami and then back at Akihito, “It wouldn’t hurt if we had that kind of information…Akihito, think about it- he has every little bit of information about us, probably all of our weaknesses. It's only fair that we at least know some of his!” Takato tries to reason.

“This is crazy, Takato! This isn’t what we agreed on. I thought-”

Then the unthinkable happens. It happens so fast that no one was prepared for it.

The glass window in the attic breaks, with a loud crashing sound as a stun grenade, is lobbed into the attic. It lands on the floor. All three witches look at it in bewildered before they understand what's happening. It goes off in a powerful flash, and all three witches are stunned and disoriented. The attic door is broken open by a large boot, and four men in full gear enter. Lead by Suoh, who drops a smoke grenade as he enters.

Suoh knows enough about magic to push the circle of crystals, that are around Asami, away with his foot—freeing his boss from the crystal cage.

Asami knew it was coming and didn’t get stunned by the grenades, “You're late.” He says lightly, scolding his bodyguard. “Leave them- they won't hurt you once they know your all human.” He continues and goes to look for Akihito in the smoke.

“KOU FREEZE THEM,” Takato yells out through his haze.

Kou hears his brothers and raises his hands to freeze. It freezes the smoke and all of Asami’s men. They give themselves a moment to regain themselves. Rubbing their eyes, and blinking away the splitting headache they have from the stun grenade. They look around the room. 

Asami is long gone. And Akihito with him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I bet you weren't expecting that ending.
> 
> Akihito has some explainin' to do ;)))
> 
> Just to be clear, I imagine Asami's crime syndicate is made up of mostly humans. There are only a few lieutenants who are demons who work for him. He has a special task force, of humans who are trained to deal with magical threats.


	10. Chapter 10

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Getting this out a little earlier was suppose to be done last night but I just wanted to add stuff. But u know smut is hard to write. 😏😏😏 
> 
> the Omake at the end of this chapter was just full-on silliness but I couldn't help myself.
> 
> enjoy ❤️❤️

Akihito’s eyes stung, and his head spins when the stun grenades went off. All he could think was that it was some kind of magical attack!

_What witchcraft had they used on him!_

But the more he thought about those final moments before everything had gone fuzzy, the more he understood that those were human weapons and not witchcraft at all.

Soon after the flash, though, he felt hands pick him up from the attic floor. Then strong arms wrap around him. And then there was a strangest and abrupt lurching feeling, and his whole body jerked. It made his head feel like more spinning, but the hands around were keeping him upward at least.

The world had seemed to pause for a moment afterward, and everything was silent, and it calmed Akihito's pounding heart immensely. He was still covering his eyes, which were watering since the flash of the stun grenade. He felt a hand on his arms, and a smooth voice reaches his ears.

“Let me look… You looked right at it, didn’t you.”

He knew from the touch who it was, those fireworks in his belly, and the intense warmth those hands were giving off was instantaneous. The baritone voice only confirmed it. “Aahsami?” Akihito tried. God, he was so pathetic. “H-how did you get out? W-hat happen?”

Asami was gently moving Akihito’s arms away from his face. Akihito still kept his eyes tightly shut, and Asami scooped up Akihito’s face in his hands and rubbed both of Akihito’s eyes with his thumbs.

“Those were my men. My watch has a heart rate monitor and a tracker on it. They probably thought I was in trouble.” He said all to calmly.

After a moment, Akihito peeled his eyes open. Asami was in front of him, his golden eyes locked on Akihito, with a look of concern.

“Are you okay?” He asked.

“Yes,” Akihito had said it, but it wasn’t really true. His head was still spinning, his eyes still hurt, and he felt a little strange. But he didn’t want to give Asami the laundry list of everything. It was only meant to appease him for now.

“Good,” the man said, and a smile curled his perfect lips, “Then I won’t feel bad about doing this-” He wouldn’t have felt bad either way, but it’s the thought that counted, right. He scooped up his little witch and tossed him over his shoulder.

Akihito immediately struggled. “Wh-what do -what are doing.. Wait minute w-where the heck are we? D-Did you blink me away?!” Asami lightly chuckled, at Akihito only realizing now that they were no longer in the attic. In fact, they were in the heart of downtown Minato district. “Wh-wait a minute- What about my brothers?!”

“We’re at my apartment, and your brothers will be fine,” Asami answered breezily as he carted Akihito down a very long narrow hallway.

Akihito only caught an upside-down glimpse of the apartment. They looked to be high up. There was a killer view of Tokyo’s skyline on large floor to ceiling windows. The interior was modern, sleek, and elegantly designed-like something you’d see on the front page of an Architectural Digest magazine. But that was all he saw before, Asami turned into a room and yanked Akihito off his shoulder and threw him on a plush bed.

“Now wait a minute,” Akihito continued protesting. But Asami was removing Akihito’s sneakers and started undoing more of his own shirt buttons. Asami harshly yanked one of Akihito’s legs to push him closer to the edge of the bed, making Akihito yelp. 

“Asami…” he tried softer this time. “D-Don’t…”

Asami did pause, and he looked down at the boy he was towering over, he had a hard expression on. 

“Give me one good reason, little witch…I tried playing nice, and you and your brothers tried to kill me today. If that crystal cage were even just a little bit stronger, it would have killed me on the spot- y’know.”

Akihito suddenly took notice of that angry dark and red mark that marred the man's sculpted neck. Akihito couldn’t help but sit up and reach his hand up to touch it. “I-It wasn’t supposed to hurt you..I just wanted to talk I swear. I-I promise. I-I couldn’t -” He rubbed on the bruise that had formed. “-hurt you.”

It was dawning on Akihito, the gravity of what he had just said and all that had occurred. He had really been responsible for hurting Asami. What if he had accidentally killed his own soulmate? The thought made his heart sink, especially with how genuinely kind and gentle Asami had seemed before all hell had broken loose. Asami was the one that was a demon, but it was he and his brothers that were the ones plotting behind Asami’s back.

“I-I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.” His eyes welled with tears, and he caressed Asami’s neck where the horrible bruise was.

Asami leaned in and gripped his face and gave him a breathtaking kiss. Akihito found his shirt being pulled up and over him and the button on his jean getting opened up, but Akihito could hardly think straight. He was already completely lost in Asami’s kisses. Asami pulled away and shook off his jeans. Before quickly smashing their lips together again.

Akihito wanted to protest more. He was still slightly worried about what had become of his brothers. But he was already so wrapped up in Asami, and he didn’t want to stop- he didn’t think he could stop. Asami had lowered him back on the bed, and he broke the kiss away again and stood over Akihito.

His golden eyes were glowing again as they had in the bathroom. He was giving Akihito that blank expression, but his eyes were wild and on fire. Filled with lust and hunger.

Akihito quivered, looking at Asami. It was like sirens were going off in his brain, like the fire alarm blaring into his ear, attempting to warn him of incoming danger. But damn it, if he wasn’t about to run through those flames. Akihito was a thrill-seeker after all, and that dark thrill that Asami was promising right now was far too tempting.

Asami undid his dress pant buttons and pulled off his pants until they landed on the ground. Without taking his eyes off, the boy in front of him. He was wearing some very sleek black boxers underneath. Asami wrapped his hand around Akihito’s elastic band on his printed boxers he was wearing and yanked them down. Akihito shivered at the open-air suddenly all over his body.

Asami tugged down his own boxers, and they fell to the floor. Akihito gulped.

Asami saw the clear sign of agitation, and a devilish grin curled his lips. He reached down and grabbed a bottle of lube in his nightstand, he dabbed some on his hand and then spread it over his hard erection. He yanked Akihito’s leg up as if he was about to enter him right away.

“W-wWait!” Akihito protested. “Pplease..y-ou cant just put it in!”

This is what Asami had been waiting for. He wanted to hear Akihito's sweet, sweet begging. Beg Asami to stretch him open first. He wasn’t going to make it easy on him.

“Tell me.. what you want me to do.” He purred out. He watched as Akihito’s face went even more crimson.

“Y-you have to…” He got up and turned around, exposing himself to Asami, as he went on all fours on the bed. So that his knees were on the edge of the bed, and his feet dangling off the side. When in the hell had he gotten so brave, to expose himself like this fully like this? He vaguely thought. But he was already aware of the fact he was spiraling, and Asami was taking him with him.“..u-use your f-fingers.”

Asami smirked, that was an unexpected act of submission from Akihito. More were bound to come tonight. He would see to that but, it stirred him all the same- now he really couldn’t hold back any longer. He slicked up his fingers and punctured into the boy with two fingers. Akihito yelped at the initial sting, but his insides adjusted.

Asami was merciless. After all, he still had to punish his little witch for the deception. He finger fucked his boy fast and hard. Slicking up his puckered hole and stretching it out. Asami pulled Akihito upwards by the chest and kissed him from behind.

Akihito was an incoherent mess already, Asami was holding him with his other arm, but it was the only thing keeping him up. Asami pinched his nipples and was licking and kissing the back of his neck. His hips were bouncing and swaying with every thrust.

Was that Akihito’s own movement or just the force of Asami’s finger pounding? Neither of them could be sure.

Akihito was getting close, Asami wasn’t ready for him to come yet. He released his fingers so he could replace them with his cock. Akihito was already slicked up and ready for him. Although it wouldn’t be easy to take Asami’s length, no matter how much Asami prepared him.

Before entering him, Asami pushed Akihito back into the mattress and lifted his hips upwards and spread his legs even more. Asami pressed the head of his cock into the witch's entrance, and inch by aching inch, he entered into him.

Akihito could only open his mouth in broken cries, and he grabbed on to the sheets for support. Asami pushed in Akihito’s hip the last few inches so that his cock was all the way in - to the hilt. 

It felt far, far to good to be inside his boy like this. So very satisfying. Like it quenched a hungry, he had never known he felt.

“Akihito…” Asami breathlessly purred out.

He smirked, although he didn’t know if he’d ever be fully slated.

_____________ **Omake** _______________

“WHERE. DID. YOUR BOSS. TAKE. OUR. BROTHER” Takato was getting sick and tired of asking the same question.

It was like talking to a brick wall. Actually the man he was talking to oddly resembled a brick wall, too. He was clearly this little team's senior leader, being the tallest and brawniest of them all.

How many times had Kou frozen them so that he could tie them all up? The two clearly didn’t know enough about tying knots because the big one had escaped at least twice. They had to re-freeze him before he tried anything and then tie him back up.

“I know you won’t _really_ hurt us, cause we’re human,” Suoh responded. “It’s only a matter of time before you give up and let us go. OR you’re freezing power drains, and you let us walk out of here.” Suoh says confidently.

“That doesn’t mean we can’t turn you all into PIGS” Kou followed up for dramatic effect. He didn’t really know how to turn them into pigs, but he was sure he could whip up a spell for the occasion.

“We’ve all been trained to deal with magical situations,”

“You mean your boss sends you off to be magical pawns, in something you can’t possibly understand.” Takato tries to argue.

The big one scoffed. “You don’t know what you're talking about, I've been on this tasked force for ten years, and we’ve dealt with countless amounts of magical related threats- be it demonic related or otherwise. I can count on one hand how many of my brothers and sisters have died. We aren’t pawns. Do you know WHY Japan has some of the lowest crime rates compared to the rest of the world? Because Asami-sama kicks them out of his territory.”

“So you're perfectly aware of the fact that your boss is a DEMON? And you’re just okay with that?” Kou presses.

“And you know you’re a witch, and most religions also say you should be burned at the stake. Plus, I’ve worked for some real devils. Asami’s the first _real_ devil I've ever worked for, but he’s not half as bad as the others. He’s a bit of a hard ass, but he’s not as pure evil as you think.” Suoh continued.

“Plus, we get dental!” One of the goons in full gear chimed in. The others all grumbled in agreement about that.

“...Dental, you say.” Kou rubs his chin. Suddenly curious now.

“Kou!?” Takato shakes his head in disbelief.

“What?? They get dental. It's impressive…”

“I can understand why you’re so cautious about Asami, but your own brother is his soulmate. The boss deserves to be happy y’know.” Suoh says, he gets a chorus of rowdy agreement from the boys.

“Why are you trying to break up true love?” Suoh continues.

He gets another chorus of “Yeahhh” and they start booing Kou and Takato.

“They're booing us,” Kou says defeatedly.

“I KNOW Kou... I hear them..” Takato facepalms himself.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> they get dental takato 😂 
> 
> we are also booing them for getting in the way


	11. Chapter 11

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> One again i am a little late! Hope you enjoy this chapter! The next few chapters will have more action and magic in them- as Asami and Aki work side by side doing charmed things! (yaya)
> 
> another omake which is important for the plot, but i end it silly. sooo...
> 
> ENJOY 😊😊😊😊

Akihito awoke, and man did he regret ever peeling his eyes open.

He didn’t even bother trying to move because his whole lower half felt fuzzy and achy. He was feeling oh so groggy too. It was probably because of how little sleep he was sure he had gotten.

He was pretty sure that by the time Asami let him sleep, the sun was already up. Do demon sleep? Do they just have endless endurance and stamina? Do they come with an off switch? Akihito, half wondered. Was it because Asami was a demon that he was so… so unrelenting. Or was that just plain old Asami? Akihito couldn’t possibly be sure.

Last night was… it was.. he had no idea how even to start talking about last night. He didn’t have experience in this department, even less so when it came to male partners, so he didn’t know what to compare it to. Was it suppose to hurt so much? Where tears normal? He really didn’t know what to think. There were moments when it…felt.. good.. but it was always mixed with pain.

He turned his head over to see Asami awake, looking at him and smoking a cigarette.

“Good morning…” Asami said in a low voice. He nudged closer when he saw that Akihito was awake. “Did you sleep well?” His lips curled into a smirk.

Akihito gave him a glare and a scoff. “You should know I hardly slept at all.” He had met that to sound more snarky, but his voice was croaking from just waking up.

“Would you like me to get you some aspirin? Or start a bath for you…it’ll make you feel better.” Asami says as he starts to get up out of bed.

“Shouldn’t we be…I don’t know… finally, talk..” Akihito says, he realizes they have a lot to discuss.

“Later,” Asami says as he grabs dark navy silk robe and puts it on, and he leaves the bedroom.

As Asami leaves, Akihito takes in his surroundings.

_This is Asami’s apartment. Demons have apartments!_

It was a very nice apartment, too, with a huge king size bed in the middle. The curtains were drawn, but Akihito can tell huge windows were taking up much of the corner. The interior is sleek and modern, neutral colors. Akihito is reminded at how nice his office was at Sion. But again, he remembers how there were hardly any personal effects in his office, and Asami’s bedroom is just the same.

Akihito sits up, and an ache goes up his spine. He’s able to reach his underwear and shirt on the ground, and he puts them on without having to stand up. He wants to look around, but as he gets up and tries to stand. He realizes that wasn't the best idea. His legs don’t work properly, remember?! and he ultimately falls off the side of the bed and comes crashing down on the ground.

“Ouch!” He says, and suddenly a hand is around his arm and pushing him up.

“You shouldn’t have tried to move,” Asami says as he effortlessly picks Akihito up from the ground with a single arm and sits him down by the edge of the bed. He had heard the little witch falling and blinked back to the bedroom. “I have your aspirin right here. But I ugh-” he blinks and is gone and in another moment is back in the very same spot with a glass of water. “here’s your water.”

“Y’know. You maybe shouldn’t be reminding me that you’re an honest to god demon every few moments…” Akihito says warily as Asami hands him the glass, and he downs the aspirin and drinks the water.

“…I am only half-demon y’know.” Asami replies.

“What? Really? I-I didn’t know that..how is that..I didn’t know demons could be only half-demon.”

Wait! Does that mean he’s half-human?! Akihito thinks, his eyes widen, and he's contemplating what this could potentially mean.

“Well…maybe you could have learned that if you hadn’t jumped right to-Let vanquish him part!” Asami says. His tone is rather flat, but his face is steel.

“I-I didn’t- I didn’t want to vanquish you. I already said that-”

Asami sits down next to him and scoops him up so that Akihito is sitting on his lap. His face has softened, and he looks down at Akihito. “And I am very glad you weren’t part of that….But that doesn’t mean your brothers weren’t.”

“What? No. We were just trying to talk to you.”

“Akihito. We had a truce. I wanted to use that time.. so that.. we could both learn to trust each other.. a bit more naturally… if we're going to be soulmates. But what I am suppose to think about what happen yesterday? hmmm?? Your brothers wanted to kill me? You heard what they said. They wanted to find me in your Book of Shadows and find a way to vanquish me. How I am suppose to take that, other than at face value? What other reason was there for the crystal cage?!”

“T-the crystal cage was just suppose to trap you. I-I know that was wrong, but- It wasn’t suppose to shock you or hurt you. I-I just wanted to talk. I swear. It was just a pro-caution. Y-you, don’t understand. When I went to your office the other day, I had a premonition that you were brandishing a fire ball at me. I-I didn’t know what to make of it.” Akihito splattered out the truth.

“You had a premonition…was that before or after I offered the truce.”

“Before…”

“So… what you're saying is… you think I would hurt my own soulmate? Even after we had our meeting and I offered you the truce? Did you think my offer wasn’t genuine?”

Akihito got up out of his lap and stood up, “Asami…what am I suppose to think? You're a demon?! Of course, I have no idea if you're being genuine? The crystal cage- it was only suppose to trap you so that we could talk, so that I wouldn’t think at any moment you might attack me. I have no active powers. I have no way to defend myself. I just wanted some answers. Is that so wrong?” Akihito was getting puffed up.

Asami stood up to, and he responds as calm as can be. “Akihito. We’re soulmates. You should have realized that sooner. Your brothers- they have nothing to do with that bond. If you had a problem, If you had concerns. Sure, thats reasonable. But why would you bring your brothers into it? Why would you bring “the Charmed Ones” into it? When this is between you and me!”

“Ugh..I-I know it was wrong, and I am sorry. But I-I just get wrapped up in what my brothers wanted me to do… They were just.. just trying to help me, they were just concerned. And… and y’know. I am a charmed one too. I can’t just separate that…”

“Akihito… I don’t want to fight. I am not angry. I just want to be given a chance…You say you're a charmed one. But you’re also Akihito too. You are your own person independent from that label. Just like I am not _just_ a “demon”- as you keep calling me…”

There a pause, and Akihito looks sheepishly down on the ground. Asami is making some points. He thinks.

Asami begins again, “Akihito.. there a reason for everything. Theres a reason you found me…” Asami scoops up Akihito’s chin, “Aren’t you at all curious about what that reason was…” And he crushes their mouth together.

________________________

Soon after that, Asami blinks Akihito back home.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea for you to come in. Kou and Takato might be pissed, they’ve probably been wondering where i’ve been this whole time.”

“I am not afraid of them, Akihito. I think it would be better if we put everything out in the open instead of trying to hide.”

“Your just asking to start a fight with them.”

“No matter what I do- I’ll probably get into a fight with them. Akihito…Will I at least have you to back me up?”

Akihito couldn’t answer that because he didn’t really know. He waltz in to the front of the house. The front entrance was always unlocked, so he and Asami entered into the main house. To find a whole bunch of men walking around the house and Kou and Takato tied up, gagged, and blindfolded on chairs in the front hall.

“ASAMI! You said, they’d be alright!?” Akihito yells, he rushes over to where his brothers are tied up. The two brothers hear their brothers voice and make muffled cries to him.

“I didn’t say they’d be comfortable….” Asami smirks, and his voice trails off.

Suoh comes up to him, ready to report. He speaks in a low voice with Asami about how the witches had tied them up, but eventually, Kirishima and back up arrived, and they had no chose but to tie them up. To prevent them from using their powers on them. He also reported how they had fixed the attic window and the attic door, and how they were installing security systems around the house for demonic and human threats.

Akihito started untying his brothers, as soon as they were free. Kou froze everyone.

“AKIHITO!! ARE YOU OKAY!” The brothers practically said it in unison as they took out their blindfolds and gags out. They pull him into a group hug, and they look at each other up and down to make sure their both alright.

“Akihito! What happen? Where did he take you! We where worried sick!” Kou starts.

“Umm, he blinked me away to his apartment…and we uh.. talked.” Akihito starts he’s avoiding eye contact. He’s not quite ready to tell his brothers that he lost his virginity to a demon.

“You talked?! All night?!” Takato interjected. He was looking at Akihito up and down. There was something different about him, he just knew it! He grabbed Akihito by the wrist and then Kou and marched up the stairs towards the attic. Leaving everyone behind downstairs.

After a moment, Kou’s frozen power faded and Asami, and Suoh found the empty front hall.

“They left without me.” Asami sighed. “I am off to a great start, don’t you think Suoh.” He pats Suoh on the shoulder and blinks away, he decided they must be in the attic.

He find the three brothers upstairs arguing, around their Book of Shadows.

“There has to be something in the book about dispelling evil magic!” Takato starts scrolling through the Book of Shadows.

“He didn’t cast a spell on me, Takato. He’s not even a full demon, he’s half human.” Akihito begins.

“Plus. Demons can't cast spells.” Asami interjects, making his presence known, and all three witches turn around. “Only warlocks cast spells…But go ahead. Do your little spell if it makes you feel better. Prove me right.” He’s staring down Takato with an almost arrogant look on his face.

Takato ignores Asami’s presence, knowing it will only serve to rile him up. “Akihito. You can’t possibly trust him?!”

Akihito sigh’s and his shoulders slump. He knew it would be hard facing Takato. “I trust, that he’s not gonna hurt me. I did the spell, Takato. I know now that he is my soulmate wether I like it or not. The book wanted me to do this. He’s had ample opportunities to hurt me and all of us. And to be honest, he’s even had ample reason to do that. But he hasn’t.”

Akihito pauses, but then continues trying to push the conversation to a lighter note; “.… and I mean even his human men kicked our butts! Asami knows a lot about the magical world. He could be a good resource for us, while we are all trying to figure out this charmed thing..”

Takato is about to protest, When Kou intercedes. “Akihito. You know we are only concerned about your safety. But is this really what you want.”

“I-I should at least… give it a chance.” Akihito turns back to Asami, echoing what Asami had said earlier. But then he blushes and looks away, realizing he sounds like an idiot.

“And it doesn’t bother you that he’s a demon.” Takato ask. He’s calmed down. He knows Kou is right to intercede, that at the end of the day, Akihito has to make the decision on his own.

“It does bother me…but, theres a reason for everything…and I have to believe that he was sent to me for the right reasons.”

Takato relents. “I don’t like it. But…Akihito, I guess its your own decision…. BUT IF HE TRIES ANYTHING!!!”

“Alright, Alight! We get it, we get it…” Akihito says walking over to Asami. “He’ll be on his best behavior!” Akihito says with a grin as he scoops up Asami’s hand.

“What about all that stuff, you installed in here.” Kou says towards, Asami. He’s looking around the room noticing, the door, and the window have been repaired.

Asami looks at Akihito, hesitant to answer, “Its the least I can do. Repair the mess that I helped make. My men are also installing security features around the house. They were pretty horrified at how unsecure this place is. They set up some magical defense and a some regular human defense.”

“How do we know that you haven’t planted bugs or something like that?” Takato pounces.

“Takato?!” Akihito says, slightly annoyed at how much he is jumping to conclusions.

“Its alright, Akihito. I understand his concern. I am only doing this because, as the charmed ones, I think you should take your security a little bit more seriously. My men told me you didn’t even lock your doors. I’m only worried about Akihito’s safety. He’s the one that doesn’t have an active power...unlike the rest of you. He would be defenseless if he were alone.

You guys are targets just on your own, being the charmed ones. But being connected to me. Akihito is at in even bigger risk. If you feel so strongly that I am ‘invading your privacy’, let me put your mind at ease. My men can give you a machine that detects bugs, you can search the house thoroughly, and they can explain some of the things they’ve installed.”

“Fine.” Is all Takato answers. “But if YOU HURT AKIHITO YOU ARE SOO GONNA BE VANQUISHED!”

________OMAKE_____________

Asami and Akihito left together again, something about needing to do an interview and a photoshoot back at Sion Corporation. The legion of Asami’s men who where installing things left the house. The big blond one, Suoh, left his card with Kou for emergencies and for “whatever else” - whatever that meant. So Kou and Takato were finally left alone.

Takato groaned as he walked into the kitchen. This is not what he expected to happen. To think. This whole thing started because they wanted Akihito to get out more and meet people. And now a demon with a big and powerful corporation was promising to be interrupting their lives.

Takato actually didn’t mind the fancy, top grade security system Asami had installed. He had always wanted to get one for the house, but could never afford it.

And getting attacked by Asami’s human magic task force was a bit of an eye opener about their preparedness to handle certain kind of fights. They had fought some demons in their time, but who could prepare them for a group of Rambo’s attacking their house and using stun grenades. To think- the mighty "Charmed Ones" felled by a group of well-armed humans!

He leans on the island counter in the kitchen, trying to get a hold of his thoughts. Before he finally talks to Kou.

“I don't trust him, Kou. I know Akihito’s an adult and he can make decisions on his own. But, this affects all of us. I KNOW Asami’s up to something. I just know it.”

Kou was to tired to argue. “But.. It does really seem like he cares about Akihito though, I don’t think he would do something to hurt him.”

“He can care about Akihito AND be plotting something. Those two don’t have to be mutually exclusive. Kou, listen. I didn’t want to say anything about it before. But it’s been bothering me since the beginning…” He rubs his chin as he speaks.

“What?” Kou says, sitting up.

“It's about what happened the other night. The crystal cages. I set those up myself. I know how to make a trap that can hurt and how to set up a basic cage trap. But something went wrong with them? It made no sense.”

“You mean when he got shocked by the crystals. What do you mean? Wasn’t that just some kind of accident?”

“I don’t think it was, Kou. They have to be charged a certain way, like a battery for them to have such a powerful shock. They weren’t charged, I made sure. But you know what charges them. Heat. Like- I don’t know. maybe from a FIREBALL?”

Kou turns to his brother, with a puzzled expression. “Are you saying… he shocked himself? Wait, we were there in the bathroom, though? How did he do it?”

“I don’t know how he did it. But think about it. Ever since, he got zapped by the crystal cage. Everything been going pretty well for him. He’s gotten Akihito’s sympathy. He’s making _us_ look like villains. You do realize that Akihito definitely slept with him last night… everything going conveniently well for him.”

“WHAT? Akihito said they just talked?!”

“Well, he blushed like beet red after that, so I think he just didn’t wanna say anything. Plus, he had a great big hickey on his neck, that you could spot a mile away. That's why we need to be vigilant of that guy! Do you hear me Kou?! We have to come up with a plan!

Kou looked a bit despondent for a moment. “I can’t believe Akihito’s had sex before me….”

“KOU! Stay focus!” Takato facepalms.


	12. Chapter 12

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off. Sorry, i haven't posted for either of my fics in a hot minute, took a bit of a break this week from writing. It's actually my birthday tomorrow, so i just wanted to take some days off while i was also writing this chapter at a snail's pace. Its a bit longer than usual and a lot of stuff happens so I hope that makes up for it! 
> 
> I'll be posting for Cat in the house on the 4th as i have a special july 4th episode i've been planning 😊  
> ____
> 
> I also wanted to give credit where credit is due. Thank you Fanfiction3112, for giving me some inspiration. I think you can see where I took some of your ideas and made them my own. Your comments have been so cute and nice and they make my day so just wanted to give you a little shout out ❤️❤️

“Asami! We’re supposed to be working!”

“This why I am the boss, little witch. I have subordinates who can do things for me!… while I do, far more important things.” He pulled the young photographer to his lap.

“I can’t keep delaying! My editor is going to have a field day if I delay handing over the interview! They wanted it for this month's edition!” Akihito tried to protest, but Asami was ever persistent.

“I’ll just call up your editor and tell him what a good job you're doing, and how it's all my fault that you don’t have enough to print.” Asami playfully tattled along. He bit into a soft piece of Akihito’s neck.

“Ow! What are you, a vampire!” Akihito pushed the older man away, but it was of no use.

“Humm…I’ve met some vampires in my day, they aren’t quite as nice as I am.”

It had been a week since the three brothers and Asami had talked in the attic and came to some kind agreement. But Asami and Akihito were seeing each other almost every other day. For the interview that Asami had organized, although there was virtually no work getting done.

The last two times Asami had invited him over, they had turned into dates instead. Although Akihito was beginning to like the dates, they’d usually start off okay. They'd started off with an invitation for lunch, Asami always booked private rooms in restaurants that he owned so they could talk in private.

Interview questions where mixed with Akihito’s own personal questions. Akihito was starting to learn a lot about Asami, like how he was over 100 years old. (Akihito was really soulmates with an OLD MAN, wasn’t he!?)

He learned that his father was human, and his mother was a demon, which is why he was half-demon and didn’t have a demon form- unlike other demons. Akihito also learned that he had always lived among humans, unlike other demons who choose to live in the underworld and hardily knew anything about human society.

Akihito also asked about his job. He had even asked tough questions, one's he had meant to bring up earlier, but they had slipped his mind. He asked about what he had heard from their old cop friend, Detective Yamazaki, about Asami's involvement in the criminal world.

Asami had stiffened at that and said, “Do you really want to know, Akihito…I am a businessman and demon to boot. Of course, I have connections to Tokyo’s underbelly….”

Akihito was a little afraid at what he meant by that. It didn’t sound too good. It had certainly put a damper on their lunch date, at the time. It had given Akihito somethings to think about. But Akihito was trying to be open-minded about it. He couldn’t expect Asami to be perfect, I mean Akihito knew what he was getting into - going on dates with a demon. So he didn’t ask any follow-up questions about it. Perhaps Asami was right. It was better not to delve into Asami's occupation if he wanted this to work.

Except for a few hiccups like that, their dates generally went reasonably well. But they usually ended with Asami getting a bit handsy or something. Whether if it was in the limo on the way back or in the private room at the restaurant. The man couldn’t keep his hands to himself!

So hardily any of the interview portion was done, nor had Akihito even started to photograph the man.

Today they were supposed to be taking photos in his office, Akihito had perhaps taken only a handful before things fell out of control. Now Akihito was straddling the man in his desk chair. 

How had it ended up like this? Was it some kind of soulmate thing, where you can’t keep your hands off each other.

“Your secretary could come in at any minute,” Akihito said although he was undoubtedly getting into their little make-out session.

“Kirishima wouldn’t dare.”

“W-wait! Asami! Really! I-I need to finish this assignment and go back to my regular work schedule! And don’t you need to be- I don’t know - ruling the business world or something!”

Asami chuckled, and he let Akihito sit up. The younger man headed towards his camera bag, ready to get back to taking pictures.

“That reminds me. I’ll need to speak to you and your brothers.” Asami says before he can get to work. His face suddenly growing serious.

“My brothers? Why? Are you sure that's a good idea? Takato is still…” Akihito trailed off.

“I know, I know. They aren’t thrilled with the prospect of having a demon in the family…But we can’t just avoid them forever though Akihito. Plus, I think I have a way to make them trust me…I have a good reason for needing to speak to them. It’s a security thing. A threat been detected.”

“A threat? What kind of threat?” Akihito questioned. He was ignoring, for now, that line about "in the family. It made him blush a little at the thought. So instead, he focused on the thought of a threat- Was it a demon? Or a warlock? Somebody after the Charmed Ones?

“I’ll explain later…for now, though…” A smile curls Asami's handsome face as he nears the photographers. “let's get to work.” He pins the little witch against a nearby wall and crushes their mouth together.

The camera bag falls to the floor, all but forgotten. Asami pushes a button near the wall, and a secret door opens up. The secret door reveals a bedroom and ensuite bathroom. It gets used for when Asami has late nights at Sion, and as a panic room in case of an emergency- Akihito’s already gotten familiar with it. 

Asami scoops up the photographer so that Akihito’s legs are wrapped around his waist. He walks them both into the secret room, closing the door behind him.

____________________

“Akihito really wants to meet with us today. Isn’t this a good thing, we’ve hardly seen him this week. We know he’s a little sore about all the Asami stuff…” Kou was trying to convince Takato.

“Maybe he wants to admit that we were right…” Takato says proudly as they got out of the car.

Kou rolls his eyes. “Come on, Takato. I thought we were gonna...y’know go easy on him. Asami hasn’t done anything to warrant so much distrust. We’re just pushing Akihito away by being so suspicious.” Kou says, he was trying to remind Takato that he was once the level headed brother.

“Are you saying you trust him. He’s a demon. It’s in his nature to be evil. He’s plotting something!”

“Okay -MAYBE, he’s plotting something. And what if his plan is to push Akihito away from us, maybe _you_ being so stubborn is just working in your favor. Huh? Ever think of that!? Us acting all crazy is just helping him steal Akihito away from us, and he doesn’t even have to do anything!” He said as they walked up the steps to the manor.

“KOU! You're a Genius!” Takato says wide-eyed and excited. “Alright, alright, that means we play nice. Why don’t we even invite Asami over to dinner that would be even better! Text Akihito, tell him he can talk to us over dinner.”

“Alright, alright, I’ll text him.”

Kou and Takato were just walking into the house. They had just got back home from work. Takato worked at a bank. He had a midlevel job desk job. It was a nine to five kind of job, that he got right after graduating. While Kou worked at a call center for a non-profit organization.

They both liked their jobs, as normal as they were. They liked having some normalcy to their otherwise crazy lives as witches. Moreover, their jobs paid the bills! And with Akihito’s salary- god knows they needed it. And what with all the demons breaking their stuff when they’d burst into the manor. These days they had more expenses, but at least their stable incomes were helping.

As they entered the manor, they head to the back where the kitchen was. Takato was already plotting on inviting the couple to dinner so he could further interrogate, but first, he needed to know what food they had in the kitchen. When they entered, Akihito and Asami were already in the kitchen.

“Hi! You guys are back!” Akihito greeted them when they entered. His face was flushed because he and Asami were just shamelessly making out in the kitchen, and he had just pushed Asami away as soon as he heard his brothers coming around the corner. “Uh. So I am making dinner. I- ugh thought we could all have dinner together.”

Akihito had an apron on, and there were pots and pans out and some water boiling on the oven. Some veggies where getting cut up, just behind Akihito. Akihito had always been very good at cooking, and he usually made breakfast and dinner for his brothers- when he could. It looked like he was cooking up a storm.

“Oh. Well, actually, we were gonna suggest the same thing!” Takato points out.

“Really?” Akihito says. He’s surprised, but he’s happy with the prospect that his brothers were thinking about inviting Asami for dinner. It’s showed some progress.

“Yeah, and I was even thinking of inviting Rinko.” Takato remarks. Rinko was his long time girlfriend. They had been dating for six months.

“Oh, she’s in town!” Kou remarks.

Akihito nodded, the more the merrier. And perhaps having Takato’s girlfriend around would lighten Takato’s mood and take some of the edge of inviting a demon over for dinner.

“Great, I’ll make enough for all of us. I am making Hot Pot! Our favorite! Also.. ugh. Asami needed to talk to all of us.” He looked over at Asami, who had been leaning on the kitchen counter next to him, hands in his pocket the entire time.

“Yes. While I have all three of you here-” Asami started, but the doorbell ringing interpreted him. 

All three brothers looked at each other, wondering who it could be at the door. Nobody was expecting anyone.

“You should probably get that,” Asami says calmly.

The three brothers head out the kitchen, past the dining room, and towards the main hall. Asami straggles behind them slowly. 

They reach the door, and Takato opens it, his eyes widen at the two outside the front door. “Hikari? Meshino?” he says. The words “What are you doing here?” are about to follow up, but before he can speak the pair step inside the house, cheerily.

It’s a man and a woman dressed in business attire. The man is carrying a bottle of wine, which he hands to Takato, stifling any chance for Takato to pose his question.

“These must be your brothers we’ve heard so much about!” The woman, Meshino, says. A wide smile on her red painted lips as she looks over the three brothers.

“We were so surprised to get your invitation to dinner, Takato. I hope you guys like red wine.” The man, Hikari says. He’s an older man, maybe Asami’s age.

The pair are quite attractive, and neither Akihito nor Kou know who they were. Takato is just as stumped by there presence here. “Um, I- Dinner? ugh.. this is Akihito and Kou.” He attempts to introduce, although he is still perplexed. “Um. T-this is Hikari, my boss, and Meshino, a co-worker.”

Kou and Akihito exchange welcomes, they look at Takato for some answers. Suddenly, Asami clears his throat loudly. He had stayed back and was on the other side of the room. They all turn to look at him. He’s touting the widest, most sarcastic sneering smirk.

Meshino, and Hikari faces sank and they go ghost pale.

“Y-YOU!” Hikari staggers out.

“Yes. Me.” Asami says smoothly.

His blue fireball quickly forms in his palms, and he throws it at the two of them. They both catch on fire- but its as if they are lighting up inwardly more than outwardly. The three brothers get out of the way and watch in amazement as the two burn up- vanquished to dust.

“T-they! They were demons!” Kou says in astonishment.

“H-how did you know!” Akihito says, just as shocked. “Is this what you were going to tell us!”

“Yes, their backgrounds didn’t check out. We found evidence to suggest they were plotting to steal from the Bank Takato’s works at, pin the robbery on him, and then blackmail all of you to give up your powers in exchange for his freedom.”

“What?! H-how did you find all this out!” Akihito stammered.

“They didn’t cover up their tracks so well. A simple background check revealed they stole their identities of the real Meshino and Hikari. They’ve been undercover at the bank for a year, waiting for their chance to strike. They somehow found out you were the Charmed One’s before you even got your powers and they—“

Takato, who had remained quiet up until now, had a desolate expression on. He was still looking at the pile of ash that was once his employer and co-worker. But suddenly, he spoke up, interpreting Asami.

“Y-you vanished my BOSS!” He said wide-eyed and angry.

Asami raised an eyebrow. “Your _boss_ was planning on stripping you and your brothers of your powers and then killing you.”

“Takato? How can you be angry right now!? Asami just exposed a plot to kill us!” Akihito spoke, turning to his brother.

Takato paused. He looked at his brother, and his agape mouth closed. “Akihito! MY BOSS JUST GOT VANQUISHED…I am sorry I am shocked about it! I-I am not… angry… I am just.. processing…”

“Wow, I can’t believe it. We didn’t even know those people, and they were plotting such a thing! They were going to frame Takato, for a robbery? Takato did you have any idea they where demons!” Kou said.

“No. O-of course not. I-I thought they were good people…” Takato was desolate. “How did you find out about all of this?”

“We did a background checks, on some of your associates. Your boss stuck out to us, and eventually, they also found Meshino background didn’t check out also. We think they were even sending demons your way, for quite some time. But you guys handled whatever threats they sent. They were getting desperate. If they robbed from the bank, they would have ruined your life with a police investigation, an arrest, a trail. They wanted you to give up your powers willingly.”

Takato suddenly straightened up and walked towards Asami. He shifted his eyes around, avoiding eye contact. “…thanks.” He says meekly and walks away.

Kou’s walks by Asami, “He’s to proud too admit when he’s wrong about someone…Thanks, man. That was a big save, y'know!” He says and follows Takato towards the kitchen.

“That was a pretty smooth move, Asami. You even got Takato saying thanks.” Akihito says nearing Asami. "A demon doing good deeds. Who would have thought.... I am impressed...We could make an interesting little team y'know."

“Ha. I didn’t do it for Takato's approval…Although it is nice to hear him say thanks...Those two where dangerous I am just glad they didn’t succeed. All of you need to learn to be more careful.” Asami says. He scoops up Akihito by the lower back, pushing him closer. "We do make a good team..." He says slyly.

His cell phone dings just as he finishes his sentence, and he sighs. He releases Akihito and looks at it. “It’s Kirishima. I am sorry…It sounds like I have to take a call…” 

“It's okay. Go. We still have time before dinner.” Akihito says.

“I’ll be back before dinner.” He says with a smirk that makes Akihito’t heart pound, and he blinks away.

Akihito sighs. He heads back into the kitchen, ready to make dinner with his brothers.

________________________

Asami blinks back to his office. Suoh and Kirishima are already there waiting for him, their faces solemn.

“Everything’s going as planned. Do we know anything more about Hikari- How did they find out the brothers were the Charmed Ones?” Asami starts. Pulling out the chair to his desk and taking out a box of cigarettes to light up a Dunhill. 

“It was just a coincidence, sir. We sent Meshino and Hikari to that bank a year ago for a regular corporate infiltration job on that branch of the Mitsubishi Bank. We gave them good covers and everything so they could settle into our world- eventually, they found out that the brothers must have been the Charmed Ones. We not sure how. Maybe just by pure chance. Since Takato worked there. Obviously. They didn’t share their findings with us.” Kirishima relays, he hands Asami a file filled with information they had dug up on their former employees.

“Evidently, they didn’t want to share….they thought they could steal the brother's powers on their own…is it odd that I am grateful to them for that..if they had, I might not have ever learned Akihito was my soulmate…” Asami smirks. “Funny how that works…”

“From everything we found from the search of their apartment, they had sent countless demons, warlocks, and even shapeshifter, after the brothers. It's seems like they've been a big reason the brothers were attacked so often since they got their powers." Kirishima continues.

"I am surprised the brothers could repeal so much on there own. Given how unsecured there house was before we came. It seems like it was almost always narrowly..." Suoh points out.

"Their disappearance probably won't have any blowback. Police will only find that their identities were fake, and they were planning on robbing the bank- so they’ll think they just made a run for it. Sir, I've also made arrangements for their replacements to be filled with one of ours. They can keep watch over Takato while he's at work.” 

“Yes, that's fine. Good work, both of you. I want humans working there, though. I don’t want a repeat. We need a tight lid around our connection with the Charmed Ones. If the demons I work with find out- I’ll lose credibility with them. If it leaks that we’re protecting them, it’ll be even worse. We won’t be able to do certain deals anymore. Let alone how much trouble it'll be if they somehow found out Akihito’s my soulmate. We have to be careful.” Asami says. He's casting an eye over the file, looking at the list of bounty hunters and others who were sent to kill his soulmate.

“Sir. We have our human team on them in the house across the way. They know what’s at stake if it gets leaked.” Suoh continues.

“I can’t have demons think I am working on the side of good. If the underworld finds out about it, my reputation down there is as good as dead. Not that I particularly care- but they’ve been useful in garnishing some deals up here. It’ll be a blow.” Asami mulling over the politics of the underworld.

It would certainly hurt his image if word got out. But more than his image was at stake. They'd take it as a sign of weakness, and go after him. Try to take his place. Having a relationship with the Charmed Ones would probably put a large bounty on his head, or else make him a lot of enemies. 

“What if it gets leaked by well… the other side, sir. What about their whitelighter?” Kirishima asks.

“That's a good question. I am not sure. Akihito hasn’t mentioned anything about a whitelighter. I have a feeling he doesn’t even know what they are. Maybe they don’t have one? Or their whitelighter hasn’t made itself known to them. If they're white lighter finds out about me, I can bet there going to go running to that god-forsaken council of elders. It’ll probably get messy with their involvement. But. I don’t think they would leak it to the underworld, knowing it might put the Charmed Ones in danger. But it might get a little… bumpy with Akihito. I have to work faster. While I have this opening…”

Asami takes another drag of his cigarette. His plans were working out so well in the last week. Better than he could have hoped. Who would have thought all he needed to do was get a little shock from a crystal cage to win Akihito’s trust. And now, he was even winning over the trust, of his brothers. Takato would, of course, be a harder nut to crack, but Asami had at least gotten a thank you from him.

His soulmate bond with Akihito was getting stronger and stronger by the day, he could feel it. He was only hoping some pesky whitelighter wouldn’t get in the way of his plans. 

He wouldn't let his intended prey getaway…

______________OMAKE_____________

The doorbell rings for the second time that evening. But this time, the brothers know who it is at the door. Takato goes to get the door. There’ll be no more surprises tonight. He thinks to himself.

He’s already warned Akihito to tell Asami that for dinner - “Ixnay on the Magic-ay” was the rule while they had a special guest.

Takato opens the door, a broad smile on his lips. “Rinko!”

The young woman on the front porch turns as the door opens. She had medium length hair, brown hair and big brown eyes. She’s dressed in cute casual clothes, and she smiles at Takato and pulls him in for a hug and a peck on the cheek.

“Sorry, Takato! It’s so hard to get some free time.. but I think I’ll be back for good!” She says as she steps into the house.

“Good! Cause you're my Guardian Angel, y’know that right!” Takato grins and plants a kiss on his girlfriend.

“Oh.. You have no idea...” Rinko says with a warm smile.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hehehehe
> 
> Just in case people don't know,a whitelighter in charmed was basically someone who basically an angel- they have can teleport and have healing powers, they can hear when you call them. They have charges who are other witches, who they guide and help them.


	13. Chapter 13

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OPPS I put this update in cat in the house by accident!! 😅 
> 
> ❤️ hello again! sorry for the late update :( I am slow 
> 
> enjoyyy

“I have so much to update you on,” Takato says as he helps Rinko remove her jacket.

“I’ve missed you all!” She says as the two other brothers appear at the front hall to greet her. 

She hugs them all too and greets them in the way she normally does. Although she is dating Takato, she’s friendly with all the boys, and she catches up with them. Eventually, Kou and Akihito head back in the kitchen to finish preparing dinner. 

“Oh, there’s an extra place out at the dinner table.” Rinko notices as she looks at the dining room table and sees the extra place setting. “Is someone else coming to dinner?” She questions.

“Uh. Yeah, that's what I wanted to talk to you about. Akihito is seeing someone…He’s coming over for dinner.”

“Oh, …really.” Her eyes lite up. She and Takato had often discussed Akihito’s love life, and there thoughts about him potential being gay. It delighted her to here that after being gone for only two weeks, Akihito seemed to have figured stuff out. 

“I am so happy for Akihito. Isn’t this what you wanted…why do you seem so apprehensive.” She had noticed Takato’s tone.

“Well.. Theres no nice way of saying this but…well he’s a d-” He stoped himself, he had almost just called Asami a demon in front of Rinko! — although there were a lot of other D- words he could think of…

Dick. Douche. Deplorable. Diabolical. Domineering

Takato had thought long and hard about what he was going to say to Rinko. He definitely couldn’t just say that Asami was actually a demon, that would reveal his secret. Although he had thought of telling Rinko about the fact he was a witch, but not right now nor for this situation. 

“-He… he not right for Akihito..” Takato re-approached the situation, “I don’t think they’re compatible, there totally opposites. And I’m really worried Akihito’s gonna get himself hurt.” He was meaning hurt in both a physical and emotional way.

“Takato….I am surprised. By the sounds of it, they’ve only just started dating, and your already making harsh judgments like this. I think Akihito is a good judge of character, don’t you trust your brother? Is this some kind of protective older brother thing! You know you have to let Akihito make decisions on his own, he’s a grown up y’know. Sometimes having those lessons- even the bad ones are good for your own growth as a person. If you don’t let Akihito figure things out on his own- he’ll resent you for it…don’t tell me you’ve already made your feelings known?” 

Takato doesn’t respond. He just makes a face because, well, of course, he got all up in Asami’s face already and accused him of wrong doing.

“Takato! You didn’t! Is that what this dinner is? Some kind of peace offering?” The face he makes confirms her thoughts. “Takato. Really I am so surprised. I thought you’d be thrilled Akihito was finally getting out of his comfort zone. You better be on your best behavior during dinner.” She reprimands her boyfriend.

Takato grumbles a bit. A part of him is sad that even his girlfriend isn’t on his side- but she doesn’t know he’s a demon, so she can’t possibly understand.

“Rinko…come on..but-”

“No! I don’t want to hear it. Look how happy he was just a moment ago, you know he just wants us all to have a nice family dinner.” She says she looks at Takato, and hold his hands. “I know you probably have your reasons for being against the boyfriend. But..maybe you should give him a chance, for Akihito’s sake,” She says with her big brown eyes. She was good at being diplomatic. 

Takato relented, it was hard to say no to those big brown eyes. “I guess I’ll be on my best behavior…” 

Kou and Akihito return from the kitchen, they're bring out some of the dishes preparing for the incoming dinner. Just as they catch Takato and Rinko sharing a sweet little kiss. A kiss to seal the deal. 

Kou groans loudly enough for the two love birds to hear, and they stop kissing, and both blush adamantly about getting caught in the act. “y’know I’m starting to get really sick being the single one in the family.” He jokingly retorts to them.

They all laugh and put things down on the table. Rinko is moving to help, and Akihito stops her. “Why don’t you and Takato have some alone time and stuff upstairs- we don’t need your help right now, and my guest isn’t due to be here for another 30 minuets.”

The couple exchange a glance and hop up the steps towards Takato’s room, happy to have some alone time. The food was being kept warm in the kitchen, for now. They go back into the kitchen to make a drink for themselves.

“Did you hear how Rinko getting him straight.” Kou snickers. They both had heard parts of Takato’s and Rinko’s talk. It felt a little awkward for Akihito to hear it, but he was so happy that Rinko came to his defense. The two of them giggled for a moment before Kou spoke again. 

“Akihito…I-I admit I was little hesitant about Asami-san, since well you know he’s a demon and all…But…I think Takato’s wrong. We were all there when we did the soulmate locator spell. I think he really is your soulmate. And I think Asami knows that, too, and I don’t think he wants to do anything to hurt you like Takato probably thinks.” Kou begins, he had been relatively quiet about the subject of Asami.

He had waited for some of the dust to settle after everything that had happened the week before. He was starting to think Takato was going too far, although he understood where both sides were coming from. Of course, he still had some apprehension about it all

"I am still not entirely okay with it…” Kou admitted. “because well he’s probably done some things, maybe even still doing some things that aren’t so good. But if he's your soulmate, then well he's your soulmate. I think it’s something - that he doesn’t want to kill us, that he’s been using his resources to protect us. It shows a willingness to- to change. Plus. I kinda like the idea of a demon helping us out. God knows we could probably use someone around who’s got some experience in magic.” 

Kou face curls into a soft smile as he looks at his younger brother, “I just wanted you to know that.. I am rooting for you- even if Takato isn’t. PLUS I was kinda bribed into it when he replaced our window and door- I mean, do you know how EXPANSIVE it is to fix that stuff.”

Akihito laughed. He was thrilled that Kou was opening up like this and telling him what he thought. And going against Takato too. That surprised him- usually, those two were always on the same side. In any case, he meekly thanked Kou after that. It’s was nice to have someone on his side for once.

Just then, the doorbell rang. It must be Asami back at the house earlier than expected. Akihito had already shot him a text warning him to use the door since Rinko was around.

“I’ll get it!” He says happily and makes his way to the front hall. 

Asami’s waiting at the door when he opens it. The older man takes notices to how happy Akihito looks, did something good happen, or was he just happy about the dinner. “What are you so happy about?” He questions in a teasing manner.

Akihito blushes, “It’s nothing! Aren’t I allowed to be in a good mood!” He responds as he lets Asami into the house. He notices Asami is carrying a bottle of brandy that looks very expensive, “Nobody drinks that around here?” Akihito says, gesturing to it. 

“Well, I drink it, little witch! And I figured if I am going to be hanging out around here, …you might as well having a bottle laying around.” 

Akihito turned away, hiding the blush forming on his face already, although he had thought of a good comeback, “So you bought a gift for yourself, very on brand!”

Asami chuckles and follows Akihito into the siting room. He sees that no one else is around, and he takes it as an opportunity to tug Akihito by the arm and spin him around into a melting kiss. He likes to see Akihito burning in embarrassment, and if his brothers end up seeing it - well, that's just bonus points. 

Before he can pull Akihito into a deeper kiss, Akihito snatches his head away and breaks the kiss. “Hey!” He says, “What happened to being on your best behavior…”

“Alright, alright, I’ll behave. On one condition.” He says, gripping both of Akihito’s hands, keeping him near. 

“One condition!? There aren’t any conditions?” Akihito says, trying not to raise his voice. Because he knows Kou is only in the kitchen.

“Come back to the apartment with me when this is over…for the weekend..” He confidently asserts. His golden irises eyes take on that gleam as he stares down at Akihito, and you know he’s thinking something dirty.

“You pervert. I-I won't survive a weekend!” Akihito replies crassly, while he attempts to fight off the blush that threatens to envelop his whole face.

“I’ll go easy on you…Akihito,” Asami leans down and whispers it salaciously in Akihito’s ear. 

He even bits his ear teasingly to get his point across, eliciting a small moan from Akihito. But Akihito holds firm, pushing him away. 

“You always say that, and y'know what - you never do!” Akihito says getting testy, at Asami continually provoking him. That damn demon! 

“Just say yes, little witch..” Asami continues, he’s still holding on to Akihito by the hands, so it's hard for the younger man to get out of his grip. 

“Fine. Fine. Fine. Just let go of me before my brothers see you.” Akihito finally yields, afraid his brothers might come in at any moment. 

Just then, Kou comes in through the kitchen carrying a bunch of the food, and Akihito uses it as an opportunity to slip out of the man's clutches. However, it's already too late- he’s already agreed to staying at Asami’s apartment for the weekend. Although a part of his is pleased with the invitation for some alone time with Asami. He goes into the kitchen and brings out more of the food and asks Kou to get Rinko and Takato from upstairs.

Takato and Rinko head back downstairs, while Akihito and Asami bring in the rest of the food. Rinko only catches a glimpse of Asami from behind. Her first thought is, who is this dark and handsome man in the dining room! She can’t believe what a catch the man looks, in his seriously expensive-looking business suit. She’s suddenly so proud of Akihito and can’t wait to be introduced.

Akihito comes up, “Rinko, there someone I want you to meet.” He’s not sure what to call Asami yet. Boyfriend, lover, or his soulmate he just met- none of those titles seems appropriate, nor does it seem to fit Asami. “This is Asami,” he says, choosing to ignore any kind of official title and just call him by his name.

Asami turns and joins Akihito, ready to be introduced to Takato’s girlfriend, the one who supposedly knows nothing of magic. But as soon as he turns around, one look is all it takes for him to know she’s a white lighter. It’s just as clear as day, her looks, her clothing everything about her just screams - “Guardian angel.”

Every whitelighter is different. Sometimes they don’t make themselves known to their charges. There work is often done in secret or behind the stage, so to speak. They guide their witches in specific ways when they need help or protection but usually, they eventually make themselves known and become active guardians in their witches' lives. Which is just what Rinko was doing, giving the brothers a chance to make decisions on there own. Sometimes becoming a voice of reason when they needed it, only nurturing the witches from a distance.

Just as Asami is giving her the once over, identifying her as the Charmed ones whitelighter. She is also clearly in the stages of recognized who Asami is and what he is. Her face drops, and the color is drained from her face.

For a moment, she thinks her eyes are deceiving her. That it’s just not possible- that this demon, a demon she is very familiar with, would be here making small talk, having a home-cooked meal, or posing as Akihito’s new boyfriend. There’s just no way!

Asami only smirks at her and extends a hand. She’s still in shock and fuddled by her own thoughts, but she manages to shake his hand back. 

It only confirms for Asami, who she is. 

Ugh. Whitelighters were always messy. He complains. Whitelighter's emit a kind of sparkly goo when touched by demons. It gets on his hand, although he leaves it for now and acts as if it didn't happen.

After a moment of awkward silence, Rinko is finally starting to realize this is no deceit- that the demon she’s read about, the demons she’s warned her other charges about, is a dinner guest!

“Rinko?” Takato says to her in confusion, looking at her fallen face.

When Takato had said, the couple were “incompatible,” she had no idea he meant it in this way! 

Although her mind isn’t thinking about that- her immediate assumption is that Asami is hiding the fact he is a demon. Her mind is only on protecting her charges from the danger that she sees. She grabs Akihito, Takato, and Kou, who are all within arm's length.

She orbs them up to the attic and drops them down. All three almost fall over from the shock, and the teleportation makes their stomach lurch in a strange way. 

Back downstairs, Asami just slumps his shoulders and gives a dramatic sigh. This was exactly the kind of complication he was trying to avoid…so much for having a nice weekend with Akihito.

Back upstairs, Rinko waste no time. She heads straight for the book of Shadow and opens it right up. She’s thinking there must be an entry on Asami.

“I know. I have a lot of explanation to do, guys, but we don’t have time to explain! I am a whitelighter- your whitelighter, actually. Just trust me, I’m the good guy. I’ll explain everything later.” She looks up for a moment, to see the brothers bewildered look on their face. 

Takato, in particular, looks pretty wild eyed at her, and his jaw looks like it might fall on the ground. It stings her a little to have her boyfriend look at her like that. It was only a matter of time before she had to tell Takato the truth.

“Listen to me!” She tries to rally them, “That guy downstairs- he’s not your new boyfriend Akihito- he’s a super powerful demon, he’s definitely here to kill you all and steal your powers....OH HO, this is bad. this is really bad. You guys aren’t ready to take on THAT guy!!” She starts to get a little frantic, she’s thinking it’s far too early for them to face off someone as powerful in the underworld as Asami.

The boys still don’t move, and they look at each other. 

“Come ON! We have to think of a plan! Before he comes up here!” 

Just then, Asami blinks up to the Attic. 

Speak of the devil! 

He looks slightly annoyed with his hands in his pocket and his head cocked to the side. “I guess, family dinners off.” He says rather wearily.

“QUICK KOU FREEZE HIM!” Rinko says, still in battle mode. 

But nothing happens, in fact, everyone just kinda groans annoyed and sighs. Instead of freezing Asami, Kou just turns to everyone and, in a deflated tone, says, “..I’ll go make sure our dinners not getting cold…” 

Only earlier, Kou had been feeling a little troubled about being the single one in the family. But was he SURE glad he was the single one now- now that both couples had some serious explaining to do. 

Takato and Akihito look at each other and almost simultaneously say, “What the heck is a whitelighter?!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Asami he just wants to have a nice dinner with Aki's family without SOMEONE wanting to vanquish him. 😔 (even if he is planning evil things..)
> 
> some terms or things u might not understand if u never watched charmed: 
> 
> Orbing- is basically the unique way a whitelighter teleports- asami has blinking which is actually unique to warlocks but i already said he stole it off a warlock.
> 
> Whitelighters- are basically angels - guardian angels who cant be killed (only can be killed by darklighters) they basically help good witches, give them advice- they are pacifist and can't really get too involved. there witches are there "charges" they sometimes have many charges so are often busy or gone for long periods of time helping there other charges- hence why Rinko was gone this entire time. They have a basic knowledge of magical beings.
> 
> In canon series: Leo is the sisters whitelighter and when he meets cole (whos Asami's character is kinda based on) they shake hands. Leo doesn't know that cole is a demon. But Cole gets this like goo on his hand and he's all mad and whipping it off his hand and being like damn whitelighters. which is recreated in this fic. oddly enough the goo thing never gets mentioned again i think. but i thought the scene was so funny cause i could def see asami doing that and being like ugh gross.
> 
> Whitelighters have kinda a basic knowledge of magical beings, but not like encyclopedic (or else that would be too easy) they have to go to there council of elders for extra knowledge. 
> 
> I liked the idea that asami is just so damn notorious that of course rinko would recognize who he was and freak out!


	14. Chapter 14

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 😅😅 i'm super late i know. but its okay. I am gonna TRY to post a half chapter later in the week... for when things get steamy 😉😉
> 
> Enjoy 🥰

“He’s your WHAT?!” Rinko yelled. Her eyes were wide in horror.

“We’ve already been through this. We know Asami is a demon, and he’s my soulmate.” Akihito answered nonchalantly

Rinko looked at Akihito then back at Asami. Then again at Akihito, then back at Asami, then back to Akihito. Her head spins.

“B-but he’s a -” She cupped her hand as if she was saying a bad word or telling a secret. But Asami could hear her just fine, “He’s a demon!”

“I know...it's been a _busy_ few weeks,” Akihito said sarcastically. “y’know… you still haven’t answered our question… What is a whitelighter? How did you know we were witches?”

“I can’t possibly have that kinda conversations when there's - with the - the elephant in the room!?” Rinko said, getting riled up and tongue-tied.

Asami rolls his eyes and scoffs. _Angels. Sooo judgy…_

Takato, who had remained quiet up until now, has not taken his eyes off his girlfriend. He is looking pale and out of sorts. But he finally speaks.

“Well, you're going to have to. Because you have a lot of explaining to do, Rinko!”

Rinko suddenly takes in how shocked and hurt Takato looks, “I-I’m your white lighter, I work on the side of good. I’m an angel for a lack of a better description. I’m _your_ guardian angel. I was assigned to look after you. I steer my charges away from danger, help them make decisions on your way to become _good_ witches.” She put a lot of emphasis on the word good. Perhaps she found it suddenly in question since it appeared they were colliding with a demon or something like that.

“You were ‘assigned’?” Takato questioned his voice raising. “So this entire time you knew we were the charmed ones, that we were witches? Did you know about all the demons and warlocks attacking us all the time? And you were just what- waiting on the sidelines while our whole life got upended?”

Akihito intersected, seeing how Rinko looked hurt at Takato’s accusations. “Hey, now Takato. I’m sure she had her reason for not telling us who she was. It’s not like we were jumping to confess we were witches.”

“No, Akihito. Takato right. White lighters are nothing but bureaucrats. They may work for the side of good, but their whole spiel is to ‘remain neutral’. They can’t intercede, they’re pacifist. They really only do sit on the sidelines. They report everything to their bosses- ‘for the greater good’.” Asami spoke up, tauntingly saying that last bit. He hated white lighters. They were even more goodie-two-shoes then good witches.

Rinko looked back at Asami utterly insulted, but Takato continued pressing.

“Were you assigned to _me_?” Takato said, his voice cracked.

He didn’t want to believe it. But he couldn’t help his mind from drifting in that direction. Was their entire relationship fake? Meaningless? Just a job to keep tabs on what the Charmed ones were doing?

But no. How could he believe it, all the things they have done. The moments of intimacy they had shared after being in a relationship for six months.

He had sex with an angel! That was a lot to wrap his head around.

He couldn’t really believe it. They had started dating six months ago, although the first time they met was - well, it was right after Grandma Momahara died, that must have been when she was first assigned to the brothers.

She was always a source of light. She always knew what to say. He started to think about all her words of encouragement, she always said the right thing at the right time- as if she knew what was going on. Even though Takato and Rinko were closer because they were dating, Rinko always stayed close with his other brothers.

As soon as he said it, he saw Rinko’s face completely shatter in heartbreak and hurt. He knew it couldn’t possibly be true.

“Of course not! Takato? How could you say such a thing? It’s strictly forbidden to have relationships with my charges. I’m breaking the rules being with you….”

It made perfect sense. At the beginning of there relationship, Rinko was very distant. She tried to deny her feelings for Takato, made excuses. At the time, she had said her life was too complicated and that they couldn’t be together. But eventually, they couldn’t help themselves. Now, her hesitation in those early days made so much sense. She knew she was breaking the rules, but she did it anyway.

“Why wouldn’t you just say something…. Do you know how many times I wanted to tell you that we were witches? How much I wanted to talk to you? But I was to scared of how you’d react…I thought I would be putting you in danger. I thought you’d reject me. This whole time we’ve been just narrowly getting by, learning how to deal with this whole magic thing on our own…. And you’ve been here this WHOLE time?”

“Takato. Akihito.” She turns and looks at Akihito. “I can’t interfere with free will. All of you need to make decisions on your own and figure out how this all works. Trust me, I know the journey has not been easy for you. But everything you’ve done up till now was needed—a lesson that will make you stronger and better witches. You're destined to be the most powerful witches, that fate is a heavy burden, and you need those harsh lessons to help you become that. I was always with you, whatever you were going through. All the battles you’ve had to fight. I always made sure you got out okay.” 

"Got out, okay? Of course, you'd say that. The truth is- Whitelighter's are useless anyway. Sure they can heal people but only if 'they're meant to' or some bull like that. Something you should come to expect from them...There not archangels there, just a meddling celestial therapist." Asami interjects again.

“What the hell is he here?” Rinko says, going back to being completely insulted and affronted by Asami’s very presence. “How the heck did this happen?”

“I’ll give you the abridged version. Akihito used a soulmate locator spell that was in the Book of Shadows. I appeared. I threw a fireball at them because I thought they were trying to kill me. Yada yada yada. Things happen. I get trapped in a cyrstal cage. Eventually, we figured it all out - and now we’re all here!”

“Akihito, you used a soulmate locator spell? And it worked?! Are you sure you did it right?” Rinko said, still hesitant. She turned to Takato, “I can’t believe this is what you were trying to tell me earlier…”

Just then, Kou came back upstairs, he was snacking on some of the side dishes from the dinner that was downstairs. They gave him a detailed explanation of what had occured.

Takato was clearly still a bit upset. Perhaps rightfully so, Rinko had still at the very least lied to him. She went out of her way to keep up her secret. He had other concerns as well, like should he be concerned that she was breaking the rules dating him? A part of him wasn’t sure how to take the news. One of the reasons he had liked dating Rinko was that it was a break from the day to day of being a witch. 

The one thing in his not so normal life that was normal, now even that seemed tainted. But those were private concerns. One he wouldn’t air out in the open- especially not in front of Asami.

Rinko explained in detail more about whitelighters. Their orbing (teleportation) powers, their healing powers, their ability to sense their charges whereabouts. She talked in some detail about her job, about the council of elders she reported to.

“I am gonna have to tell them about Asami. They won’t be happy…”

“Pft. As if they can do anything. I thought they were big proponents of things like fate and destiny….” Asami scoffed.

Nobody was feeling like dinner anymore. Perhaps things had simply got too complicated, and the mood had shifted to tense. There was no reason to put up the pretense of having a “family meal” anymore.

Rinko left after her explanation, she orbed away to report to the council.

Takato and Kou walked back downstairs.

“What a mess…” Takato groaned. He, in particular, was feeling pretty dejected. 

Things didn’t feel like they were resolved at all. It felt like they were in the eye of the storm, where things were calmer, but the air was tense because something bad lingered in the air.

Things were accepted…but only for now.

Rinko seemed to have been satisfied that the demon she was arguing with in the attic wouldn't attack them, while she was gone.

Many questions still lingered. How would the council react to Asami? It would potential mean they might come to some kind of conclusion about Asami. Rinko seemed to have known about him. Or at least, she had heard about him. But she hadn’t said anything concrete. Perhaps the mystery of who Asami was, what kind of demon he was, and if he was planning something, who he really is, and what he has done might be answered. 

There was also the fact that the council were probably gonna find out the Takato and Rinko were in a relationship, which was a whole other concern.

She would have to listen to them, wouldn't she? If she were really a bureaucrat as Asami had said, following the red tape of the 'powers that be', then she'd be in serious trouble. 

She had even made it sound like they might reassign her because she was dating a charge, but also because one of her charges was dating a demon.

“Are you okay?” Kou asked, concerned. 

“No.” Takato slumped into one of the seats. He started picking on one of the side dishes that had been left out in the dinning room. “Nothing has been resolved. My girlfriends, an angel, and I am not sure how I'm supposed to feel about it…”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s made me question some things. You know I hate to say this...but Rinko's supposed to be our guardian angel… so why do I feel like Asami has actually been more of a guardian angel then her - is that crazy to say? Even though I question him, and I don’t like him. And I still think he has ulterior motives. But I can’t deny that he…he seems to want to protect Akihito. First, he puts all that security in our house. Then he finds out about my co-workers, and deals with them for us. He's done more to protect us in the week that we've known him. Then Rinko has in the six months I've been dating her. She's been an undeniable been a good friend to all of us, but its just been words- even when we were scrapping by and fearing for our lives. At least...Asami puts his money where his mouth is, y’know…”

“Wow. Thats like a 180 from where you were like an hour ago!” Kou says, generally surprised.

“ugh. I know. I still don’t like it…Speaking of them…were the heck are they…?”

________________________

*Blink*

“Asami! We can’t just leave. Everything’s so up in the air!”

“Oh, yes we can!”

“I-I didn’t even pack a toothbrush!”

Asami chuckles, “Please we’re only a blink away,”

“W-Why are you in such a hurry?”

“What-ever do you mean, Akihito?”

Asami had already blinked them back to the penthouse, whisked Akihito’s shirt off, and was burying himself in Akihito’s neckline. Kissing and sucking on a soft piece of flesh, greedily putting his hands all over the little witch. 

He had probably already made two hickies on Akihito’s flesh in such a short period. Ones that would take weeks to heal away.

“Y-you know exactly what I mean?!” Akihito responded, he was sitting on the mans lap on the sofa in the living room. Already beat red, and halfheartedly trying to push Asami away. 

The man works fast, was all he could think.

“If I didn’t leave, we’d probably be stuck there forever,” Asami says teasingly into Akihito's ear. Making the petite blond shudder at the hot breathe on his ear

In truth, Asami needed to get Akihito alone. So he could drill into his mind who he truly belonged to, before any word got back from the council. The older man was worried Akihito might sway if he hears negative things from the council.

Surely they were going to bad mouth Asami. Surely they had kept score of every transgression, every sin Asami had ever done. It would be a long, long list.

To potential have that all laid out and bared in front of Akihito, it felt distressing. And not just cause his plans might be foiled. In fact, that was the last thing on his mind. All he could think about was that Akihito’s image of him would be ruined, that Akihito would be horrified at all he had done.

He had never cared what other people had thought about him. He had certainly never cared what he had done to get to the top. 

So why... why did he care that Akihito thought well of him....

There was one upside though, Akihito and the brothers probably wouldn’t have enough time to scrutinize each wrongdoing, there were probably to many to able too read them all in one lifetime…

Not exactly a comforting thought…

So Asami had to make Akihito ignore the overwhelming evidence that he was a very, very bad man…

And what better way to do that than to fuck him senselessly.


	15. Chapter 15

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HEllloo don't be mad that it took so long, i am very slow at writing smut it much harder to write then normal chapters. 😅😅 
> 
> its always like does this make sense, am I explaining too much and not going into how it feels. UGh its just harder and when i write sex scenes i always internal cringe a lot because i am like- "i typed a naughty word!"😆😆
> 
> Anyway ENJOY the NAUGHTY WORDS!!
> 
> Next few chapters are gonna be more MAGICAL and Asami will be getting closer to realizing he doesn't want to USE Akihito he just WANTS akihito.
> 
> Whoa ch. 15 🎊

In the short amount of time that Asami and Akihito had met, Asami had learned one primary trait about Akihito.

It was easy to tease him. 

But more importantly, Asami found that it was becoming his favorite pastime to tease Akihito- and in more ways than one.

Teasing can mean any amount of things. A particular favorite way to tease Akihito was to say the crassest of things. Since Asami was already shameless, it was a particularly easy way to tease Akihito. The little witch would go beet red and get all flustered. And there were so many things to say that would make Akihito go beet red.

But nothing was better than teasing him in _that other way_ …. and well, of course, that was Asami’s specialty!

Akihito’s body was very sensitive, and so for Asami, his options were endless. A bite to the ear lobe, a pinch on a pink nipple, blowing some air on the nape of his neck, a hot tongue down his smooth chest. He was so very easy to tease, and each of his different reactions made it oh-so-satisfying to tease him.

And once you teased him enough, he’d just completely melt. He’d be completely lost with so much want and need, to aroused to form complete sentences. How rewarding it was to build him up and turn him into absolute mush.

“Ah-aaa. Sami. P-please,”Akihito whined.

“Use your words, Akihito…”

The blond made a sound somewhere between a whine and a moan, and his hips bucked. His back pressed against Asami's chest, and his ass arched into the man's groin. Akihito could feel Asami’s harden cock in between the crack of his ass.

“S-stop. Uh-nh te-easing me” He struggled to murmur out in-between shallow panting.

“Hmmm… stop what?” Asami hummed out, a smirk gracing his perfect lips, and he lightly chuckled.

He had pinned the little witch down on the bedroom. Pressed their half-dressed bodies together, and their clothing splattered across the bedroom floor. Asami was slowly pumping Akihito’s cock, and he rolled his thumb around the slit and stroked up and down. He was keeping the little witch on edge. His heated golden gaze watched the boy squirm and shudder over and over again at the slow build of pleasure.

Asami nibbled on Akihito’s nape, making more red marks on him. As entertaining as it was to tease the little witch, the bulge in Asami pants was aching pretty hard just from watching the boy writhe in his arms.

Of all the lovers Asami ever had- and there were many, none of them whereas lively or as enticing as Akihito. None had ever riled Asami up as Akihito could. None had ever made him ache like this- and this was just a bit of foreplay.

Akihito’s underwear was dangling on his lower legs, and Asami sat up and pushed it away so that now Akihito was fully naked on his bed. As he should be. Asami sat up on his knees and loomed over the boy. His golden gaze was already illuminating brightly looking absolutely carnivorous at the feast below him.

He rolled Akihito over and spread his thighs, taking an eyeful of the twitching member in between them. He reached over to the bedside and grabbed a bottle of lube, so he could begin to split Akihito open. He spread the other's cheeks to slick up his pretty pink puckered hole that was twitching in anticipation.

Asami lifted Akihito’s leg up and over his shoulder and so that Akihito was lifted slightly off the bed. He sent one of his lean fingers inside the tight cavern, and the blond yelped.

First, he explored and pushed in and out of the blond. He slicked up the inner walls, before adding a second finger. It may have been too fast to add another digit, but he knew Akihito could handle it- despite his protest to the contrary. Akihito’s toes curled and he gasped as the second finger entered him.

When Asami was satisfied with his work and Akihito’s utterly losing his mind, Asami pulls out his fingers. Akihito whines at the loss. But Asami takes his time as he pushes his pants away and frees his erection. He slicks up his own cock with the remaining lube.

“H-hurry,” Akihito desperately whimpers out. When Akihito's in a hazy state like this, he has no idea what he is saying or how perfect and needy he was. He can be so honest sometimes during sex.

“Hold on,” Asami says, leaning down, and Akihito wraps his willowy arms around Asami’s neck. Asami guided his throbbing member towards Akihito’s entrance. He presses it carefully inside, and then in one swift and smooth motion he bottoms out inside Akihito. Akihito moaned at the sudden feeling of fullness.

Asami pulls him upwards, picking him up and pushing him against his chest. He repositioned his legs, so they are straddling him on either side. He holds him upwards by propping up and holding one of his thighs, while his other hand supports his back. From this position, the angle of penetration was different but also deeper. Gravity was naturally on Asami side this way, it forces Akihito down on Asami’s cock.

“Ahhh-nooo…n-no,” Akihito, hooked around the older man's neck, shudders at the new positions.

But it’s only just the start of his uncontrollable spasms as Asami skillfully thrust in and out of him. His hips do most of the work, but he bounces Akihito up and down as well to create more friction. He captures Akihito’s lips, while the younger man is frantically trying to hold on. He kisses hungrily until they're both breathless. And he slams Akihito down into his cock over and over again. That obscene slap of skin on skin fills the bedroom.

He pounds into the younger man's prostate, and Akihito’s head rolls back in ecstasy, and he groans. Exposing his neck to the older man, who readily suck on the soft piece of flesh offered to him. With every thrust, Akihito's insides tighten so perfectly around Asami’s member. Both were getting close, Asami’s panting while tears sting in Akihito’s eyes.

Asami thrust faster and harder to bring them both to a release.

“Ah- nhhh.. Sami more- Hyah!” Akihito cries as those are the only words that could possibly form around his drooling mouth. Asami, of course, obliges the little witch and slams harder and deeper.

“Cum Akihito, cum” Asami commands. The older man takes the others cock in hand and begins to rub it, milking the orgasm out of him while he pushes in one more time right on Akihito’s sweet spot.

And just like that Akihito cums with a whole-body shudder and his toes curl in pleasure. He cries out one last time, and his insides clutch and drawing out Asami’s own release. He fills himself out into the young man and when he's finished riding out his orgasam he plops them both down on the bed below.

Asami pecked down Akihito’s neck and chest. He kisses a pink pert nipple and licks it. He trailed down lower and kissed down to his belly button and then back up. He was letting Akihito catch his breath, while he licked clean some of the juices that had landed on his chest.

As he trailed back up the boy's chest, their eyes met. Golden eyes still burning and glowing with lust. 

Akihito scoffed, “Your insatiable, don’t you ever get enough!” He whined as he could guess that Asami wanted more. 

But even still, his eyes burned in that familiar fiery way that Asami had become acquainted with.

Asami chuckled and raised up to lock with those wet and plump lips. When he releases him, the older man sit up over him, “You say that now, but a minute ago, _you_ were the one yelling for more.”

Akihito goes beet red at that- more so than he was from the sex. Clearly he's just remembering his wanton calls, “S-shut up!” He says as he burns with embarrassment.

Asami plumps down next to him. “hmm.. but I suppose… I have all weekend to give you _lots more,”_ As he presses the young man to his chest.

"Asami..." Akihito lifts his head up to look at his soul mate. "Are you..afraid of what the whitelighter council is going to do?" Asami sees concern in his eyes. 

"Akihito, you must know by now...that i am not letting you go. Your mine now. You belong to me. I won't let _anyone_ take you away, and especially not because some council says so."

He says it as a promise. Nobody. Not even Akihito's brother is going to get in his way. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hope it was worth the wait 😊


	16. Chapter 16

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Damn, i really missed writing this, it feels like forever since I last posted. 
> 
> So I wrote a bit of fluff, a bit of plot, and a bit of something to get excited about for the next episode! I also realized how much I miss writing the dumb brothers because they weren't here the last episode.
> 
> Anyway!! Enjoy ❤️❤️

Akihito was beginning to like waking up at Asami’s place. Mornings at Asami’s penthouse were always so tranquil, and it was the one time where Asami tended to not act like his usually domineering self.

Akihito always woke up before Asami. Perhaps it was merely because Asami always worked late hours, but he always slept in every morning. He’d sleep until noon-ish and then head to work again. While Akihito was used to waking up early and things for his job- although photojournalism sometimes had him taking late nights too. In anycase, Akihito was usually up a few hours before Asami, and today was no different.

The young witch liked to wake up before Asami because it gave him some time to see a different kind of Asami.

Sleeping Asami. He looked so - so human when he slept. If he had showered the night before, sometimes his slicked-back hair would be gone, and he’d have dark hair on his forehead. He’d looked so young when he had his hair down.

Obviously he couldn’t wear his three-piece suit to bed- although Akihito wouldn’t put it past him. So he’d just be in his usual pajamas. At first, it was a little jarring to see Asami so — so... domestic. But somehow, it always pleased Akihito to see this side of Asami. As if Akihito got to see a part of Asami that he let nobody else see.

Was it weird to think that his demon, crime lord, and total perverted soulmate was actually kind of a cutie, when he slept?

Asami Ryuichi and CUTE. Those words shouldn’t be used in the same sentence, but somehow he just was in those early morning hours.

But this morning Akihito wanted to do something different. Normally, both would have to go to work the next morning. Or Asami would drop Akihito back at the house, so his brothers didn’t know he was spending yet another night at Asami’s place. But this was a special occasion, A weekend. There was no work this weekend for either of them.

So Akihito was planning on making breakfast. Especially, since he was feeling sorry that their dinner plans got completely ruined.

Akihito didn’t have other clothes other than the ones he wore yesterday. Was this a sign that Akihito maybe should have a draw or something… was it too early to think about that.. they were soulmates after all. In any case, without much thought, Akihito just decided to borrow a shirt of Asami’s and headed to the kitchen.

But there was nothing in the kitchen to his horror. In fact, it looked like all the fancy appliances he had were simply for show. There was nothing but alcohol in the fridge. And the only thing he had in his pantry, if thats what you could call those empty cabinet draw, where a few basic's that looked hardily used. It was a sorry state of affairs.

When was the last time Asami went grocery shopping!

Akihito had a brief moment where he imagined Asami pulling a shopping cart around picking up eggs and milk in his three-piece suit. It was an immediately strange thought. But even if he didn’t have time to grocery shop, didn’t he have glasses secretary to do those kinds of things.

So Akihito slides on his jeans while Asami was still asleep and headed over to a nearby little shop to figure out at least something for breakfast.

There was only a small store around the corner, but it had some of the basics. He got makings to make a simple omelet, rice, and miso soup. He came back and took off his jeans again, so he could be comfortable and started preparing some food.

About 30 minutes later, he was still working away in the kitchen. It was almost complete. He was working over the oven when he felt an arm wrap around him. It startled him at first, and he jumped,

“You scared me!” he lifted his head, so he was looking at Asami.

“You don’t have to do this, y’know.”

“I know. But, we didn’t even get dinner, and I like cooking. I don’t see it as a chore. By the way, I think you seriously need to go grocery shopping. Do you even cook?”

Asami just hummed and leaned his chin on Akihito’s shoulder, watching him cook. “I don’t usually have the time.”

“Would you like to set the table?” Akihito asked. Asami gave a quick kiss on Akihito's nape and turned around to set the table for them.

__________________

When was the last time someone had cooked Asami breakfast? He had lived for a long time, and he had taken many a lover. But he honestly couldn't think of the last time someone had cooked breakfast or anything for that matter.

Asami had heard a knife chopping away from the kitchen, it was the thing that had woken him up. As he wasn’t used to hearing anything coming from there.

His immediate thought was a mild concern. Where had he gotten the food? Was he going to make a mess?

Sure Akihito claimed to be a great cook, but he was rather young and quite inelegant, which meant the two of them had a somewhat _different_ palate. (and not in a good way, either) From what Asami could gather from there lunch dates they had, although the food hadn't really been the priority on those dates, as well as from the surveillance he had done on Akihito. Akihito’s idea of a good meal involved a lot of spice, a lot of fried food, and he ate a lot of whatever he could get his hands on.

But then Asami could smell the food from the bedroom, and he couldn’t help but be surprised at how good it smelled. He got up from the bed, dawned a bathrobe and some slippers to see what was going on in the kitchen.

Akihito was busy working away on the stovetop to notice Asami coming down the hallway. Asami leaned against the doorway and watched for a while as the young man cooked away, slightly humming to himself.

Standing in the doorway, Asami noticed Akihito was wearing one of his button-down shirts. _His_ soulmate in _his_ kitchen, cooking _his_ breakfast, wearing _his_ shirt. It swelled something in him, pride perhaps.

Or maybe it was just something in his pants at the sight of Akihito’s lean, bare and smooth legs under the shirt. He looked good enough to eat right there on the kitchen counter.

But then Asami heard his stomach growling. He had skipped dinner, after all.

Breakfast first, then he'd go for _seconds_.

____________________

“Excuse me? Did I hear that wrong?” Rinko said, her eyes shocked.

“We can not interfere with this.” The elder in a white cloak said. He was at the head of the council table. He sat in the highest seat, demonstrating his rank as the senior-most member of the council.

“Have you heard of Asami Ryuichi? He’s one of the most powerful demons in the underworld, AND he’s a criminal! What do you mean you’re not going to interfere? He’s dating a CHARMED ONE? Our most powerful source of good?! Akihito’s young and impressionable! How can this-”

“Excuse me, Rinko. The council is very much aware of who Asami Ryuichi is, and what his crimes are. But we can not interfere. They are more than just ‘dating’ as you so crassly say. They are soulmates. It _is as it is meant to be._ We haven’t interfered in this relationship, as much as we may question it. Although we’ve been keeping a close eye on it-”

“WHAT?! Y-you’ve known about it this entire time a-and you haven’t told me- their white lighter about it!?”

The elder whitelighter looked slightly perturbed by the interruption, but then he continued.

“We understand your concern for your charges safety. Which is why there is only _one_ thing left to do. We cannot interfere if they are truly soulmates. So we will initiate a test, of sorts. One that will put to bed any doubts about whether they are truly soulmates or not….” The head council member continued. “But it will require your cooperation when the time comes...”

Another member of the council who was next to the head member spoke up, “ Rinko, we were going to warn you, but you see - you returned back to them earlier than we anticipated..and thats because.. you are in a relationship with your charge,” the elder said raising his brow.

“Such a relationship is completely forbidden..” The head member of the Council of Elders began, he was only at the start of his lecture...

_______________________

“Why do they always have to skip out like that,” Takato says as he’s eating breakfast with Kou.

“Don’t lie. If we had teleportation powers, we’d definitely also be ‘skip out like that’ all the time,” Kou responded.

“I don't like it, cause we don’t even know where he takes him? To his lair?! It seems creepy.”

Kou rolled his eyes.

“But like really Kou, Rinko had this power this entire time, and she wasn’t teleporting away all the time,”

“Thats cause she was trying to _hide_ that she had teleportation powers. And another thing shouldn’t you be-”

Just then, bright orbs of light came right into their kitchen, it was Rinko orbing down. She had a tired look on her face.

“Rinko!” Kou and Takato say once she appears in their kitchen.

“Where’s Akihito and Asami?” She says, getting right down to business.

“They're not here..” Kou says.

“Good. Listen. I have some news to report back.” She starts. She looks over at Takato, who has a bit of a flat expression at seeing her. He’s clearly still not in the best of moods with her.

“What has the council said about them.” Kou continues, ignoring how Takato was looking away from Rinko. The middle brother wanted to know what was going on and to hell with whatever pettiness his brother was having.

“Listen… I am not really supposed to be telling you this. So don’t go reporting this to Akihito. But…the council knew about Asami and Akihito long before I did.”

That news got Takato’s attention. “What?!”

“They're not going to do anything. They say they can’t interfere… I-I can’t believe it myself. T-they were more angry about me having a relationship with Takato then they were at Akihito dating a demon…” She looked over at Takato, they would probably have to take some time to talk soon, and it wasn’t going to be easy.

But, she had to say her relationship with Takato was the last thing on her mind. Not that she didn’t care genuinely about him, but she also knew a part of him was just stubborn, and he’d come around.

Her main concern was on Akihito. What did the council have planned for him? A test they had said. What kind of test…

Would the council purposefully put Akihito in unnecessary danger?

“I-I don’t know what to think of it. But I think they seem to think it’s happened for a reason. They think it’s worth the risk, I guess. I-I feel like there not telling me something. Like maybe they already know what their fate is….which still doesn’t make me too happy…” She continued. A part of her certainly believes that the council was purposefully not giving all the details.

But why? As the Charmed One’s white lighter didn’t she have a right to know about that stuff. Perhaps they didn’t trust her with that information since she was seeing Takato, perhaps they thought she couldn’t be impartial anymore.

God. Sometimes that council of elders is so freakin cryptic. She couldn’t help but remember what Asami had said about them being bureaucrat….

But she didn’t like this ‘test’ they had mentioned. Was it to test Asami? Or Akihito?

She supposed she had to trust the process, though…

* * *

**OMAKE:**

*Ring Ring Ring*

Who dare call Asami at a time like this? He was not pleased with the interrupt, he was in the middle of something important- getting seconds.

Akihito laid out like a feast in front of him on the kitchen counter. His boxer shorts already dangling around his thighs. Asami’s shirt that had been on his perfect body had buttons torn away and drooping off his shoulders. Asami’s fingers already knuckle deep inside the pretty boy.

Akihito’s trembling form was already mewling and whining underneath him. He was only minutes away from entering him when he heard the phone ringing. Was it his or Akihito’s he couldn’t be sure. The little witch hadn’t even heard the phone ringing. He was too utterly lost in his own pleasure to notice such things.

It better be something pretty damn important.

But, nonetheless, he couldn’t possibly leave Akihito like _this._ Nor could he leave his own throbbing member alone.

So it would have to wait….


	17. Chapter 17

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back by popular demand! haha. I decided i really did miss writing this and i've been very excited to write about this test I have planned. Its kinda short, but i'll try to be back more regularly! 
> 
> soooo enjoy 😉 *evil laughs* 😏😏😏

_*Ring Ring Ring*_

Akihito was beginning to like waking up at the manor. Mornings at the manor were always so tranquil, Akihito’s brothers were still asleep, and he had the house to himself. 

He usually woke up before his brothers. He was often up during these early morning hours because he had work, sometimes photojournalism had him getting early hours just as much as the late hours. In any case, he was usually up a few hours before his brothers and…

…..today was no different. 

As he gets up, he looks over at his empty bed. He feels a sad and unexplainable dip in his chest as if what he’s looking at is not quite right, but he can’t pinpoint what. Perhaps it's only because his empty bed is a reminder of that failed online dating profile his brothers had been trying to get him on. He had tried to warn them that it wouldn't work.

Akihito quickly dresses in his usual pajamas and robe. He heads downstairs to start making breakfast as he always did in the morning. Of course, his kitchens is fully stocked with everything he could possibly need to make breakfast.

But when he sees his fully stocked kitchen, however, it elicited a memory. He thought he was in major need of a trip to the grocery store. He somehow remembers an image of an empty pantry, but that can’t be right. Of course, his pantry wouldn’t be empty. He only dwells on that thought for a moment, before his mind is occupied with the task at hand - making breakfast. 

He’ll make the basics. An omelet, some rice, and some miso soup, of course. 

________________

_*Ring Ring Ring*_

It was an alarm clock ringing that woke Asami up that morning. No other sounds are coming from his empty apartment, of course. Why would there be?

He doesn't stay in his pajamas for long. He immediately heads to the shower and gets dressed for the day. Although it is a weekend- the restless never rest. After he showers, he dons his usual three-piece suit. 

He had thought for a brief moment that the apartment seemed quieter than usual, But he shrugs it off. He attaches his cufflinks and calls Kirishima to tell him he’s on his way down. While on his way out, he passes the kitchen. 

As he strides by the kitchen, he pauses at the doorway. His nose has caught a faint hint of something. Like the smell of breakfast in the air, but that can’t be right. He hasn’t cooked in that kitchen for years. He thinks he’s probably just hungry. And he's reminded that he’ll have to get Kirishima to take him to his usual breakfast spot.

________________

“Pass the cream cheese,” Takato says, his nose is in his phone. He had received word this morning that two of his co-workers had resigned suddenly. And now, the company he works for was scrambling to find replacements.

Kou yawns but passes the dish of cream cheese to Takato. “Are you working on an assignment today, Akihito?” Kou asks. 

“We'll see I'm working on a few things, but I’m feeling a little off today,” The photographer responds.

“Well, it is the weekend. Don't feel like you have to push yourself. Maybe we should do something fun for once, just the three of us we can go out for dinner or watch a movie.” Both Akihito and Takato seem unexcited by the suggestion. Kou signs. “Or we could sit at home and play video games all day…”

The three of them groan, not that they don't like sitting around and playing video games all day, but perhaps it's an admission that they are just plainly bored. And even video games can't fix that.

“When was the last time we had some interesting 'Charmed Adventure'! I mean, I do like when we get some time off- but it feels like ages since we were attacked by a warlock or had to vanquish a demon,” Akihito says.

Akihito had always found their little ‘Charmed adventures’ to be exciting. Whenever they got attacked by a warlock or had to figure out a way to defeat some magical being that was causing trouble, he always found it to be a little thrilling. Sometimes the brothers thought he enjoyed it a little too much… but he was a bit of a daredevil.

“Don’t say that. You’ll just jinx it! We should be happy we haven’t been attacked!” Kou cuts in.

“Aki, I meant to ask you how's that online profile we made for you, eh?” Takato teasingly retorts

“Umm...I'm not sure.. I'm starting to think it's not for me,” Akihito says scratching his head and going beat red in embarrassment. He doesn't want to have to tell his brother that the profile seems to be setting him up with a bunch of men. 

“Well, if you get really desperate, you could always look in the Book of Shadows.” Kou says with a light laugh, “R-remember that time we used that attraction spell- y-you had the whole city after you.” He struggles to say as the memory is making him laugh too much.

“Yeah. Yeah, I remember it was a disaster, don't think I'll be trusting the Book of Shadows to set me up with anyone ever again." Akihito says sheepishly. He turns to his older brother, “Takato do you know when Rinko is was coming back?” 

As soon as he says the words, Akihito suddenly has a distinct feeling that he seen Rinko recently. But hasn’t it been a few weeks since Rinko’s returned…

“Oh thats right, she should be back! I hope so.. it's getting boring without her around.” The older brother responds, rechecking his cellphone.

“We could do some big dinner for her when she gets back,” Kou suggests.

“Ah! Good idea!” The older brother is pleased with this idea. He’ll have to message her and see what her plans are, he thinks.

Kou’s suggestion was a good one, Akihito thinking about making a special hot pot for dinner. And he’s about to suggest it to his brothers when he gets a strange feeling. As if the suggestion is somehow vaguely familiar like a moment of deja vu.

He is starting to recall that he's had lots of these “deja vu” moments today, just in the span of a few hours.

 _Odd._ He shrugs and continues eating breakfast.

_______________________

Asami arrives at Sion. He’s thinking about an odd moment he had at the restaurant that he frequently goes to for breakfast and even for lunch sometimes.

He feels like something is missing, but he can't quite place what. As if he's forgotten something at home, and that feeling creeps up at him in an odd way that he can't explain. 

Like in emptiness…. that's not supposed to be there. 

He tries to continue on with his day, as there is much on his agenda. In fact, there is more so than usual. What has he been doing these last few weeks that would have made him so behind like this? He thought he had been working as diligently as ever. 

However, he finds it hard to concentrate, especially in his office. Did it always seemed so quiet at Sion? He had always thought it was brimming with life, but now it seems so grey.

What is he even thinking? 

But, why did everything feel so ...so wrong…He remembers yesterday he was feeling perfectly normal, why does it feel like the change is so sudden and strange. 

_Hmpf. Odd._ He thinks as he goes back to work.


	18. Chapter 18

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Back again 😊😊 it's a long one! but I don't think ur gonna be happy 😂😂😂
> 
> enjoy ❤️

All-day today, he’s been fighting this strange urge that something is wrong. Rinko is coming to dinner. Akihito is in the process of making dinner. Everything seems so normal, and he doesn’t want to question it. 

Kou and Takato seem like their regular self. They haven’t said anything or mentioned anything about something feeling off. Akihito’s beginning to think it's just him, he doesn’t want to worry them with crazy talk- as if something is wrong.

So he just makes dinner in the kitchen for a few hours, until Rinko arrives.

The doorbell rings, and Takato goes to the door. Kou and Akihito wait in the dining room as Takato greets his girlfriend as he usually would.

“Akihito, Kou, good to see you.” She says, and she hugs both brothers. She seems not in her usually chippy mood. They decide to have some hors d’oeuvres in the front room, with some beer to catch up.

Akihito notices Rinko acting strangely. She keeps turning to look over at Akihito from time to time. She gives him a look that Akihito can’t quite read as if asking ‘how are you’. He wonders if his worries are showing on his face. Rinko always had a way of knowing what was on your mind, of knowing when you were troubled.

“So, Rinko! What have you been up too! Why were you away for so long, you know Takato is such a snore without you!” Kou butts in, he sips from a can on his favorite cheap beer.

“Oh,- well. You know I’ve been busy with my job. It keeps me away a lot…” She trails off. “Have you guys been good?” Her head turns to Akihito as she says it, and now Akihito’s convinced he must look depressed or something.

“We're fine. Did Takato tell you that we made a dating profile for Akihito?” Kou looks over to Akihito, a mischievous grin on his lips.

“He wants to give up on it already,” Takato says teasingly

And Rinko turns to look at him again, “Is that so Akihito?”

They're teasing him about this dumb dating site, and for some reason, it stings harder than usual.Akihito’s heart just sinks into his chest, and he can feel his muscles tense up. He’s trying to keep a straight face and just blink away that sudden pain in his chest that he can’t explain. 

“Uh. Yeah. I-it's not for me.” He’s able to say.

The conversation changes to a new topic, while Takato complains about how two of his co-workers have resigned suddenly, and the effect it's having on his job.

Akihito excuses himself. He says it's to get another drink in the kitchen. But it’s really to calm himself. For a moment, he felt like he was going to break down and cry. Somethings not right. And for once, he’s starting to think it could be related to something magical. He does have the power of premonitions, after all. Maybe this was some kind of magical alarm clock trying to warn of him something.

Just as he’s getting back to calming himself, Rinko steps into the kitchen.

“Akihito… a-are you alright. You seem out of it?” She says with a concerned face.

“I-I’m fine.” He says, trying to sound convincing. “I’ve just been- feeling a little off today is all.” He straightens himself up. He can’t even begin to explain what he’s feeling. So this time - a talk with Rinko isn’t going to help.

“Akihito…I-I’m so sorry.” She says. It sounds so odd. So genuine. But what could she possibly have to be sorry about…

_______________________________________

Asami has been in a foul mood all day. He’s more ruthless than usual.

He fires at least four people and vanquishes at least two demons who pissed him off. He’s usually not this much of a hardass. But today's the exception.

Suoh and Kirishima are mildly confused about their boss's sudden mood swings. However, they think that nothing seems that wrong, and Asami’s just being particularly harsh today. In any event, they keep their usual meetings including a meeting with one of Asami lieutenants. 

He’s a manager of one of Asami’s many night clubs, and a middle-ranking demon by the name of Jiro Okazaki. 

“Asami-sama, a pleasure to-“ Okazaki begins.

“Would you care to explain to me Okazaki-san why Club Cava went down in profits by 15 percent, in the last month.” Asami interrupts. 

Today he has no patients for pleasantries and certainly not with the likes of Okazaki. He sits at his desk. There's a file in his hand with the report on Club Cava.

Club Cava is one of his smaller time clubs in the Akihabara district. It attracts a younger crowd and a vital club for a lot of Asami’s small-time drug trade.

“Well- I, We usually make up profits in the summer seasons, sir, and I think my-” he tries to speak again.

“Okazaki-san. I am not going to lie. I’ve heard you have a _problem_ with humans recently. I’ve been hearing pretty disturbing things about costumers going missing. Do you have anything to do with that?” Asami speaks bluntly.

It was true that Asami had underlings that were demons, but he has always worked more in the human world. It’s why he’s been so successful. Unlike other demons, he partners with humans. Humans can have just as much skill as demons and are just as hungry for climbing the ranks.

Suoh and Kirishima are testaments to that. Asami walks a very thin line in his business. Legitimate vs criminal. Human world vs the underworld. It’s a complicated dance.

Some demons have already assimilated into human society. And sometimes they work only in the legitimate side of the business, as they have backgrounds in law or business. Meanwhile, some humans work in the criminal world, and yet don’t know their boss is a demon. It's not so black and white.

It was a tricky balance. But Asami had learned long ago that humans where valuable parts of his business. And especially those that were customers!

But it had always been a reoccurring problem that a demon would come into the human world and not understand that. Demons usually got their jobs due to connections or just simply because of their rank in the underworld. They’d come to the surface and would think humans were disposable. That humans were for their own personal - entertainment! They’d kill human customers and employees for fun instead of doing business.

They’d leave a mess, frankly! They'd ruin a club's neatly held reputation. Asami was often clean up after their messes.

If you wanted to work at Asami's business. You had to play by the rules he had carefully crafted, and if you couldn’t then, you simply didn’t belong at Sion corporation.

The rumors Asami had heard about Okazaki were simply that he was disposing of Sion employees needlessly, and potential to his own detriment. But… it was slightly surprising, not anyone could just become manager of Asami’s club. Okazaki had, for the last few years, proved to be a decent manager and seemingly got along with his human employees. Which is why the rumors where concerning. Was it just a fluke? Had something changed recently for Okazaki?

This is what this meeting was about, what had caused such a deep decline in profits in a short period of a month. It was both inexcusable and concerning.

Okazaki sits up, “Asami-sama. I can assure you these rumors are just slanderous. I have worked very hard to get in the position I am now. Why would I ruin it for some cheap trick? The rumors have meant fewer customers, but I will find the source. And business will be back to normal. You have my word Asami-sama.”

Asami rubs his chin. He makes a compelling point. He had shown in the past that he could work with humans. However, he can not help but be untrusting. But he'll accept Okazaki’s answer, knowing that he will simply keep monitoring the situation a little bit more closely.

“Alright. Okazaki-san. I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt…but know that I am keeping an eye on your progress, and I expect results. Don’t disappoint me, Okazaki.” He waves a hand away, and Okazaki turns to leave the office.

Kirishima has been in the room the entire time, and just as Okazaki leaves, Suoh enters with another report.

“What do we think about our friend Okazaki?…Kirishima, I think we should be keeping a close, close eye on him.” Asami says, turning to his two most trusted allies.

“I can get a team on it, and we can find out more about the source of th-“ Suoh begins. But right in the middle of his conversation, someone interrupts…

A bright blue light, of tiny orbs, travel in the space right on the side of Asami’s desk.

Kirishima and Suoh turn to action, immediately whipping out their guns and pointing at the orbs.

Asami only sits up from his desk as the orbs materialize.

All three are familiar with this mod of teleportation, although it's a rare sight even for them.

Whitelighters don’t often visit demons...

Rinko emerges from the white orbs. She looks around at the three men. She knows they can’t actually kill her, since only dark lighters can hurt white lighters. Although she’s can’t help but feel a little scared. But she bucks up. She _has_ to do this.

“I’ve come to talk.” She says calmly.

“But of course. Whitelighters can’t do anything but talk…” Asami says with venom. He waves his hand, signaling to Kirishima and Suoh to put their guns down- they won't do them any good anyway. The two men put their weapons back in their holster and straighten out, Asami sinks back into his chair. “I am afraid I don’t do business with white lighters…you understand.” he crosses his fingers in front of himself.

Rinko practically rolls her eyes, “I could be in a lot of trouble coming to you…but my..well, my charge is in trouble… and I have to do everything I can.”

“Your charge? Thats to bad. Because I ESPECIALLY don’t deal with _witches_. Why don’t you run along to your little council or something…”

“I can’t help it.. because.. well charge unfortunately cares a lot about you…”

Asami perks up at that. A witch? That _cares_ about him? His eyes narrow. “What do you mean?”

“Asami… haven’t you been feeling strange today? Like somethings…off? Well- _He_ feels it too.” She says she looks at Asami trying to read him. Does he feel the same? Or is it just Akihito suffering…

Asami sits up, growing suspicion and annoyed. “What the hell are you talking about?”

“I’m _talking_ about your soulmate.”

_______________________________________________

**OMAKE:**

Okazaki was not pleased about Asami’s harsh words. After all, he had done for the man, how could Asami take the side of lowly humans? It made no sense.

He kept it calm, though, in front of Asami. Saying he would get to the bottom of slanderous gossip. 

Oh- he’d get down to the bottom of who was RATTING him out that is.

He was fuming as he left the office. And as he was waiting for the elevator, after the meeting, he hears a commotion coming from Asami’s office, and he walks over to the door. 

He’s a demon so, his hearing is better than an average human. He overhears a conversation he is clearly not meant to hear.

A white lighter, in Asami’s office? A witch that seemingly knows Asami?

And what was that… a soulmate?

Okazaki smirks…

**OMAKE:**

Kou had woken up like any other day.

But something was different, although he didn’t know it.

He heard Akihito getting up, as his younger brother had often got up early and made breakfast. He stayed in bed a little while longer. He was still a little sleepy. But he sat up and contemplated the dream he had just waked up from...

_Hmmm… Since when have I had a thing for beefy blonds???_

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> have no fear they'll be back together in nooo time!!


	19. Chapter 19

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay soo this ended up being longer then I thought it would be, and so even thou i expected it to be out by monday. It didn't work out that way. I also ended up not where i originally planned to be.
> 
> I was kinda like I could make this an extra extra long chapter and just post all of it but it would take an upwards of like 4 more days to finish it. OR i could post what i have to satisfy some of y'alls burning desire to know what happens next.
> 
> I am already working on the next part so have no fear! 
> 
> I just realized that I use some terms that maybe people aren't understand if you never watched the show. i will repost this in next chapter too. 
> 
> Whitelighter teleportation - is called orbing- tiny bright light orbs surround them and they "orb" away.  
> Demon teleportation power- is called shuttering. it is as it sounds, they just kinda shutter into place.  
> Blinking teleportation power- Asami has this power, it's actually a power associated with warlocks in canon, but I have already established that Asami stole it off of one. I see it as a bit faster mode of transportation. which i think also suits him. U blink and they arrive while shuttering is like they materialize and perhaps a bit slower. Although there is probably no difference.
> 
> ❤️❤️❤️ Stay safe out there y'all 😷💕

Rinko had left a little bit earlier than anyone had anticipated. Takato was a little depressed about it. But, Rinko had mentioned something about possibly returning tomorrow.

It was late so the two brothers went to bed. Akihito stayed up. He was cleaning up the kitchen. But that was mostly an excuse since his bothers had helped him clean up dinner. His mind was wandering a bit too much, and he would rather be productive than be tossing and turning in bed.

While cleaning up, he found something by the front door. It was just laying there on the hall tree. Entirely out of place. 

A bottle of brandy.

At first, he thought it must have belonged to his brothers, and they must have left it there by accident. Sometimes Akihito used brandy in his cooking. But the three had never been known to drink brandy? And this bottle was not just any old bottle of brandy. Akihito can tell it's the expensive kind. Was it possible Rinko left or something? Or someone had come over with a gift for someone?

He reaches over to pick it up, since he wants to examine it some more. However, as soon as he touches the bottle, he gasp and recoils- He’s having a premonition.

His premonition is very hectic and confusing to him. He sees a location by the water, a warehouse number 33. He hears his own voice yelling _a_ s he climbs up a set of metal stairs. “Asami, are you here?” . Suddenly someone shimmers in front of him, a demon who’s big and ugly with salt and pepper hair. He’s blocking Akihito from the path and he says viciously, “So you’re the little soulmate, eh? A DAMN Charmed one?!” And the demon throws an energy ball towards him.

Akihito’s taken out of the premonition, and he gasps for breath, the brandy bottle that was in his hand slips and falls on the floor with a crack and breaks into a million pieces. He pants to catch his breath, and he looks at the mess on floor he’s just caused.

His brothers have heard the noise, and not a moment later, they both head downstairs to see what the commotion is. They find Akihito looking as pale as a sheet, over the broken bottle. It’s a look they’ve many times before after he’s had a premonition.

“What did you see?” Kou steps up, he guides Akihito away from the broken glass, and the three of them walk into the sitting room.

“I’m- I’m not sure…” Akihito begins, his mind is trying to formulate all that he had seen. “I saw myself at some kind of… warehouse or something? And someone’s in trouble, and I’m trying to reach them but - but I get intercepted by a demon. H-he throws an energy ball at me. T-the demon he said something about soulmates…” He continues.

Asami. As soon as he had heard the name, it somehow sat right with him.

He looks up at his brothers, suddenly very determined, says, “Guys. Since this morning, I-I’ve been feeling a little off. I can’t really explain it. But it was like this feeling of foreboding all day. I must have known something was wrong, but I didn’t know what.”

“Akihito…we truthfully noticed that you seemed a little different. But we didn’t want to say anything. We figured you’d tell us what it was when the time came..” Takato spoke up now, the two brothers sat on either side of him, with worried looks on their faces.

“But what's this about a soulmate?” Kou asks curiously.

“I-I’m not really sure…but I think the person who was in trouble… I think it was _my_ soulmate.” Akihito says his eyes are wide while he grapples with that information.

“Did you see them? In your vision?” Kou continues, he exchanges a look of surprise with Takato.

“No. I didn’t see them. But I was calling out for them. Asami - Their name’s Asami.” Akihito's voice trails off.

But suddenly, he is up on his feet. The name, Asami, is traditionally a women’s name. So his mind was entirely on the wrong track. Picturing some cute girl that was in danger from an evil demon. His mind only briefly thinks about why or how did the brandy bottle of all things cause this premonition. But, he’s far too focused and fired up to think about trifling details like that.

"They could be in trouble right now!? What do we do?” He says animatedly.

“Wait, let’s consult the Book of Shadows about this. We can’t go in blind.” Takato begins getting up himself, “We’re all on this with you, Akihito, but we need to play this safely.”

Kou gets up to, and all three brothers head upstairs to the attic to consult the Book of Shadows.

Akihito’s mind is abuzz. A soulmate? This demon that confronted him seemed not to know much about Akihito- only that he appeared to think Akihito was somebody's soulmate. 

Is that why he had gotten so upset earlier when they kept mentioning that silly dating profile because there was someone out there that was his other half- and some part of him knew that too.

After consulting the Book of Shadows they do find one spell about soulmates. A locator spell. Although they don’t have the right ingredients to do it right now. They're all baffled and have never heard of anything like it. All they can conclude is that soulmates are real.

They try to find the demon Akihito had seen in his premonition, but they couldn’t find anything. Akihito’s into much of a rush. He knows where it’s happening. Warehouse 33, couldn’t they just start the search right now?

“We don’t know what we're up against, though,” Takato tries to calm Akihito down. “We don’t know when it's supposed to happen…”

“You guys don’t understand, that demon, he seemed to be just learning that I was a Charmed One. Doesn't that mean we have the upper hand? We could at least go! Stake the place out?

Kou and Takato exchange a look. It’s late and their both tired, it felt like everything is progressing so fast. But then they both nod.

“We’re in.” They both say.

_________________________________________________

“Why should I believe anything you have to say?” Asami says calmly. He is sitting back down on his desk, and Suoh and Kirishima are directly behind him.

Rinko rolls her eyes, “Can you think for one moment? Why in the world would I come here to tell you such a ridiculous thing if it wasn’t the truth?! Both your memories have been altered!”

“You're purposefully being vague, and it's obvious. You haven’t truly answered a single question I’ve posed. You want me to take you at your word but why should I?” Asami says cocking his head and narrowing his eyes.

“Well, that because you keep asking me who they are- and well, it shouldn’t matter who they are. I have an important reason not to tell you. I’m not asking you to think about this all in a logical way…There’s nothing logical about soulmates. I am asking you to..to look inside yourself and tell me what you feel!” Rinko voice begins to rise.

If she told Asami that Akihito was a Charmed one, she was partially afraid it might suddenly change his response to it. She wasn’t sure exactly what the council's reasoning for doing all of this was.

But she imagined it was to test Asami, in particular. To see if he was he really Akihito’s soulmate in every aspect. Or if he had only involved himself with Akihito because he had some other nefarious plan in mind… to manipulate the Charmed Ones. For what reason, it was hard to say.

Rinko had risked a lot to tell Asami that he had a soulmate. It was the smallest of hints that she hoped would spur him along. She couldn’t push it anymore than she already had. Asami had to be the one to choose what to do with that information, and hopefully, he'd find Akihito and make this right.

But she is starting to get a little frustrated. Akihito had quite obviously felt the change. The young witch wore his emotions so clearly on his face. But this man before her seemed to feel nothing. Asami and his deadpan expression, and the way he talked to her so dismissively.

Maybe the council was right…Maybe they really weren’t soulmates. Maybe Asami only cared that Akihito was a Charmed One, and he was planning something nefarious. She was getting so frustrated.

“Y’know what. Given the way you’re acting…. You don’t even deserve Akihito… Ha, I should have known better than to think a _demon_ could ‘feel’ anything.” And with that, she orbs away.

“That was an odd encounter.” Kirishima breaks the silence. He exchanging a look with Suoh.

“Yes. Very…..” Asami takes a deep breath, pausing for a moment as he goes everything the Whitelighters had said. He had met a few Whitelighters in his time, but none of the encounters had been anything like that. “Kirishima, Suoh. Look into anything about the council erasing memories.”

The two left the office without another word. Asami swirls around in his chair. He rubs his brow, mulling over the Whitelighters words.

He does take what the Whitelighter said seriously. Whitelighter's aren’t exactly known for lying. It’s a cardinal sin, after all. But they can mislead, they can dance around the truth. Hell, they can even go crazy and just spew nonsense.

His main concern is on the thought of his memories being tampered with. Especially since he had felt a weird little today in particular. Did the council of elders even have the power to do that?

What she had said was somehow absolutely outrageous that it couldn’t be made up...

Why wipe memories? Why not just kill Asami? It seemed a more straightforward solution that was far less messy then altering someone's memories. It’s what he would have done. It sounded like a rather extreme action, so why would they have done it?

And why would this whitelighter come to Asami if it was made up? What was there to gain in spinning some story? A trap, perhaps? She had even been very vague and refused to give details about this ‘so-called’ soulmate, which of course, was suspicious to Asami.

 _A soulmate…_ And not just a soulmate. A _witch_. His face scrunched up a bit in disgust at the thought. He _hated_ witches.

But…she had slipped his name when she had left in a huff.

 _…Akihito?_ Asami thought. The name seemed to roll off the tongue nicely…

The whitelighter had also blurted out in her anger that Asami was unfeeling… It somehow stung to hear her say that. What did she know about him? What was he suppose to do... jump into action upon hearing he had a soulmate? One that he apparently had no memory of.

It seems all rather over the top. He couldn’t really picture himself with a soulmate. Let alone some- some _Little Witch._

_Now that seemed a bit familiar to him in an odd way._

Just then Suoh, knocks at the door and Asami gives the alright to enter. He has a distressed look on his face.

“We have a problem, sir.… We just received word that the head of security at Club Cava has been found dead sir. It looks like it was from an energy ball.”

“Okazaki! He’s not even hiding the fact it was him!” Asami sits up. The head of security was the one who had told them about the rumors of Okazaki’s cruelty. “I went men looking for him. We need to bring him in and-“

“Sir, I am sorry theres one more thing. After we got the news, we looked back at some security footage from outside the office- Sir. It appears he stuck around, we believe he was listening in to our conversation with the Whitelighter.

Alarm bells go off in Asami mind. Okazaki had over heard everything. About the witch. About his soulmate.

A relationship between a demon and witch. It’s wasn’t just taboo to a council of elders. It was completely outlawed in the underworld.

Huge bounties would be put on the head of any demon caught bedding a witch. But most demons would probably just kill you for sport, just for the heck of it.

Asami was a powerful not just in the human world but in the underworld too. If word got out that his soulmate was a witch, there wouldn’t be an investigation or a trail. Even if it wasn’t true.

It could certainly destroy any progress he’s made in the human world. His demon subordinates would likely defect. There’d be chaos in the underworld and chaos here on the surface - every demon within a 100 mile radius would be gunning for his position. Or else motivated to gain the bragging rights of killing one Asami Ryuichi.

It’ll be all out war.

And there was only one place where you could let the whole of the underworld know about such ground breaking news.

Warehouse 33. It’s not a normal warehouse. Asami would have gone there if the roles where reversed.

The warehouse was actually a well disguised portal. It was a portal to the deeper parts of the underworld, to places where lower-level demons couldn’t teleport to. It was Asami’s little secret, one that only a few in his organization knew the location of - including Okazaki.

It’s where Asami held underworld meetings with his subordinates or met with other equally powerful demons from around the world. A ticket to the hot spot of the underwold.

“I know where he’s going.” Asami responds to Suoh. “Get Kirishima, the three of us are going.”

__________________________________________

Through some of his connections in the media, Akihito was able to locate the only Warehouse 33 in Tokyo.

It belonged to some company he had never heard of, Sion Corporation, or something like that. It hadn’t really matter who it belonged to, just that something nefarious was going to happen there.

Takato and Kou followed Akihito up to the roof of a nearby warehouse to get a good look. Akihito had brought some of his camera gear to help them spy on the comings and goings from a safe distance.

Using one of his high tech lens Akihito had witnessed someone entering the warehouse. He recognized it as the demon he had seen in his vision.

“Alright here’s the plan. Kou you do your freezy thing. Takato you throw his energy ball right back in his face. While I’ll do the rescuing. Sound like a plan. It’s three against one, I think we can manage!” Akihito says in high spirits. This was about as detailed as their plans usually got. The Charmed Ones had a tendency to wing it. Although it always ended up okay.

“Um I don’t know Akihito, maybe we should get a closer look. We don’t know whats in that warehouse. Maybe we should get eyes on our innocent before walking right in.” Takato suggest. It couldn’t hurt to be extra careful.

“Alright.. what if we..” Akihito looks around, trying to think of another plan. “Look. There’s a fire escape on the north wall we could move up position there, they're windows up there too - we could peek in and then maybe try to get into the exit at the top and surprise him,”

The brothers liked that idea and they hurried down and carefully crossed over towards the warehouse. Takato had to use his telekensis powers to force the ladder of the fire escape down, and they climb up.

Just as they’re climbing up, a group of thee head towards the warehouse. They seemed to have appeared out of thin air. The brothers are to far away to see anything to clearly. They only see a shadow of three men and hear the doors of the wear house creaking open again.

“Ugh. Now that makes four on three.” Takato says. The brothers exchange a worried look.

“Alright, let's try to peek in. Maybe they’ll be split up.” Akihito says, trying not to give up hope despite the fact the odds are no longer in their favor.

They climb up one other level and theres a large window for them to peek into the building. But before they can even look inside, they hear a commotion going on inside. One of the windows is slightly ajar and they can hear people talking inside with they peek in.

They see the three men who had entered, although their backs are facing them. All three look tall and muscular. They're all wearing pretty clean cut suits. They stand on the ground floor, yelling up to the upper floors.

“Okazaki! I know you’re here!” A baritone voice rings out. It comes from the man in the center of the three.

Akihito suddenly notice the two other men behind them are armed with guns.

“Guns!? Guys, these three could be humans?! God. They won’t know a guns not gonna do anything to a demon!” Akihito whispers to his brothers.

They hear another voice and it sounds like its coming from some of the upper levels. Although they cant, see where it's coming from.

“You were clever to come here, Asami. But you can’t stop me from exposing you.” Okazaki responds.

Akihito turns his head around to look at his brothers in confusion as soon as he hears the name. _Asami? A-Asami — a man?_

There go his hopes of rescuing some damsel in distress...

The man in the center speaks again, “You think you may have over heard something, Okazaki. But you’re mistaken. That Whitelighter was just spewing nonsense.”

 _Whitelighter?_ Akihito turns to look at his brothers in more confusion.

“I don’t have a soulmate.” The man continues. He says it so dryly and coarsely.

 _Huh?!_ Now Akihito’s really confused. He looks at his other brothers, but they only look as puzzled as he is. _What the heck is going on? First my soulmate is man? But now he's not my soul mate?_

“Come down here Okazaki, and face me like a man.” The baritone voice booms out. Suddenly his fist curls and a blue flame ignites from it. “Or I’ll smoke you out!”

Akihito gasp. EHHH?! _He’s a demon!! What the hell is going on?_

Okazaki suddenly exposing himself on one of the upper floors, he leans against the railing. “How about you come and get me, I am not afraid of you Asami.”

Asami can’t help but accept the challenge. After all Okazaki is no match for him. He blinks away, teleporting up to where Okazaki is. He blinks a few yards behind him, and brandishes his fireball again.

“It’s over Okazaki.” Asami responds when he sees Okazaki.

“No. I’m afraid it’s not. You're too late.” Okazaki replies with a crooked smile on his face.

Then out of thin air, five demons appear. They stutter into the room without warning and are quickly encircling Asami and surrounding him- Bounty Hunters.

"You're too late, Asami. I've already told the whole of the underworld, and let me tell you... everyone was _very_ interested in what I had to say! I’ll be very happy to take over Sion from you when you-“

A voice from below interrupts Okazaki's villain speech, “ASAMI!! I’M COMING!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Have y'all seen some of the spoilers from the new chapter?!?! DEAR LORD‼️ 
> 
> It is both like ❤️❤️🥰🥰 and also like 😭😭😩😩😭💔 I just want English translations to come out soon 🥺


	20. Chapter 20

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg 20 chapters. Wow 🤩 😳  
> sorry for late delay. Again it took longer then i thought, and u go out on tangents that you like that then you have to bring it back. 
> 
> Enjoy ❤️

While they were busy having their villain speech, Akihito finally sees Asami’s face- and has another premonition.

This time. It’s not of the future. It’s of his past. Of the memories that where altered. Everything comes rushing back to him, in quick confusing flases. And he can’t stay still on the fire escape any longer.

He knows he is too far from Asami to truly help. But he is hoping his reckless decision to crash in loudly will be enough of a distraction.

It is. 

As Asami immediately takes the opportunity to wipe out at least one of the bounty hunters that were circling him with a fireball and get to cover. Okazaki is pissed. They had Asami cornered! And now it’s like he’s evening his odds.

The former lieutenant turns to look at Akihito, rushing up the stairs. Who dared to interrupt his triumphal moment!?

Kou and Takato quickly follow Akihito. The two brothers didn’t get the memo that there were suppose to rush out of their hiding place. They are mostly chasing after Akihito since he had blown their cover. 

Perhaps the demons can just smell the witch on them. But the way Akihito has shouted out for Asami it tells Okazaki that this must be the witch he heard the Whitelighter talking about. And now that he’s seen the three of them together. Well, three witches together can only mean one thing- the legendary Charmed Ones.

A part of him feels even more righteous. The soulmate is even a Charmed One?! Asami’s really a traitor to demons!  
  


Okazaki immediately shudders down. He teleports right in front of Akihito as the young witch is making his way up the steps.  
  


“So you’re the little soulmate, eh? A DAMN Charmed One?” He throws an energy ball without waiting for a response.

  
But Akihito already knows it’s coming for him as this is exactly what he had seen in his vision back home. He dodges it easily.  
  


Akihito’s about to say something snappy back to the man, but suddenly, Kou arrives and freeze the lot of them. Including Asami and the bounty hunters a few levels above them. In fact, he’s frozen the whole warehouse. Even Kirishima and Suoh, who are on the ground and trying to catch up with their boss.

“AKIHITO! What the heck is going on?!” Kou says as he runs on to the scene with Takato in tow. They are both out of breath and panting. They've been chasing after Akihito and are just catching up to him now. “Why did you leave the fire escape! Now there are even more of them!! We need to get out of here!?”

Akihito hardily even registering what Kou’s is talking about. He is far too amazed at Kou’s ability to freeze everyone in the warehouse. Clearly a very impressive use of his powers.  
  


“Kou! Good job freezing everyone! We have to get to Asami, right now!” He says, not even turning to face his brothers as he’s too determined to keep climbing the metal staircase to get to where Asami is getting attacked by bounty hunters. 

Takato and Kou exchange a look. “What a minute! Akihito, you haven’t explained whats going on? What do you mean? Why are we rescuing that guy! Isn’t he a demon!?” They both start running up with Akihito.

“Guys! I don’t have time to explain!” He says, and they get to the landing where Okazaki is standing, frozen in time after he’s thrown his energy ball. “- Takato! Deal with this one! He’s definitely a badie!” He hardly stops to say anything else. He was far too determined to be slowed by his brothers. But he talks as he continues his climb, his mouth moving a mile a minute.

“I had another premonition, guys. I don’t know what's going on, but that guy is Asami. We’ve already met him. I think! At least.. thats what I saw in my premonition. Guys, I think we got our memories are all messed up. I’m not really sure- it’s hard to explain. He’s definitely my soulmate. Just trust me. We have to help Asami.”

To make the drama that much worse, the doors to the warehouse are kicked open by Asami’s so-called “magical force” squad. They weren’t affected by Kou freezing, as they have just arrived. They’re in full tactical gear, and they are armed to the teeth. They are already shouting orders at one another as they stomp into the ground floor.

The squad sees Kirishima and Suoh on the ground floor, but the two are still frozen in place. They take them off to safety.  
  


“WHO ARE THEY??!” Kou says as they run up the steps following behind Akihito.

  
“Umm… I think those guys work for Asami. It's okay. We’ll stay out of there way. Takato, push down that guy- they’ll take care of him.” Akihito continues his answers. He gestures to Okazaki, who is still frozen behind them. 

He is, of course, vaguely remembering the “magical force” squad that Kou and Takato had talked about in great detail. 

Takato is still very confused, this entire thing is such chaos, and Akihito’s hardily answered anything. Are they suppose to just go with this…. However, Takato does use his power of telekinesis to shove the demon over the edge of the railing. He watches as he plummets a few floors down to the ground floor.

Asami’s task force looks up in confusion, wondering where Okazaki came from. They lock him in a crystal cage where he falls and heads up the steps themselves to look for their boss.

The three brothers hurry up the step a few flights above them. However, Asami’s squad is gaining on them very quickly. The three reach the top landing where Asami is, just as everyone is unfreezing.  
“You guys start taking out those goons. I’m going to Asami!” Akihito starts, and he’s about to rush off and find cover.

“Wait, Akihito! That guy a demon too,” Takato starts as Akihito darts away.

“It’s alright. Takato I’ll explain everything! He won’t hurt me. Trust me.” Akihito says as he gets around cover to avoid getting seen. “Now quick, go be the distraction!”

Takato and Kou only sigh at each other. Akihito was to determined, which meant there was no point in trying to stop him.

The two step out of there hiding place. “HEY YOU BIG LUG!” Kou calls out to one of the bounty hunters. “OVER HERE!”  
  


_________________________________

  
Asami wasn’t sure what the heck was going on. He only heard a voice off in the distance, and all the demon bounty hunters and Okazaki were momentarily distracted.

He took the small window afforded him to fire on two of them, including Okazaki. One is instantly vanquished, but Okazaki dodges it.

Asami dashes for cover and found some behind some crates.  
Okazaki seemed to leave. Perhaps it was to wherever that voice had come from. Asami had briefly thought it was Kirishima and Suoh, yelling they were coming, but they were on the ground floor, and the shouting seemed closer.

Was there someone else here? The white lighter… the witch?

Before he can think any more about it, two very out of place, young men suddenly appear by the stairs. He’s not sure where they came from. They seemed to just materialize at just the right moment. They are grabbing the attention of the bounty hunters, obscenely yelling at them.

Who were they? Other bounty hunters?

Asami had devised a plan. He thought he could perhaps trick the bounty hunters by making them go after each other first—demons where incredibly self-serving and confident. Only one could have the honor of bragging that they killed Asami Ryuichi. They’d want to be the one that got all the glory and would not share in it. Asami could make them turn on one another. 

Is that what was happening now? Another group of bounty hunters was suddenly arriving and laying claim?

But then from his place in cover, he sees the two strange young men use powers- powers that aren’t demonic…

Witches?

He watches in bewilderment as the two attack and win over a few of the bounty hunters.

Were they friends or foes? Was one of them the witch that Whitelighter had spoken of? His supposed soul-mate that he still was in denial about?

Asami looks at the two young men…. He really hopes not…as they are really, really not his type at all….

He’s taken out of his thoughts by a noise close to him.

He’s been clumsy. Why was he thinking about such nonsense things at a time like this? He thinks to himself. And now someone was using the opportunity to try some sneak attack.

Okazaki, perhaps, who he hadn’t seen in a while? His instincts are fast, and so he spins around, a fireball in hand before any attack can come. 

Asami grabs his would-be assailant by the neck and shoves him against a crate hard and fast. His fireball is maybe a few inches away from the assailant's face. He moves so fast, just on pure instinct, that he doesn’t see who it is that’s ‘attacked’ him. But now he sees…

Asami’s taken aback by the young face in front of him, he’s clearly only a boy. He’s slightly shorter than Asami, petite in structure, with a mop of messy and frizzy blond hair. For some reason, Asami is frozen, unable to complete his attack.

He hesitates. It’s very unlike him. But his eyes have fallen on his assailant's clear hazel eyes—eye’s that simultaneously are oh so familiar, and yet foreign.

The young blonds hand reach up and instinctually latch on to the arm thats choking him. He coughs through the choke-hold.

Meanwhile, Akihito is shocked as he obviously wasn’t expecting to be attacked. And worse still, the young witch is starting to realize that, of course, Asami would attack. He doesn’t even remember Akihito. He recalls that Asami attacked him and his brothers in the attic the first time they met. And he’s admittedly a little worried about it.

But. Asami has hesitated. It’s more than what he’s ever done for anyone else.

“Ah-sami,” The blond struggles to utter out. He looks up at Asami, who’s demon golden eyes glow, practically licking with flames.

Asami notices that the blond is only gently grasping onto Asami’s arm. He’s doesn’t resist in any way. He completely submits to the chokehold, but he looks up at Asami defiantly. Fiery hazel eyes meet Asami’s smoldering golden-ones, so unafraid to hold that lethal gaze.

It happens all in a fraction of a moment, but it feels like an eternity.

The exact moment it dawns on Asami, his pupils dilate.

Mine.

He releases his chokehold grip, but he’s still bewildered. He still doesn’t know, who this young blond is. He just knows that the blond is his.

“Who are you?” Asami asks cautiously. His eyes haven’t left the blond, and he eyes him tactfully up and down.

Akihito frowns. “Um. Well, it’s kinda a long story, and we have some other problems to deal with right now.” He says frankly. But he has an idea. 

Akihito scoops up Asami's suit lapel, and tugs him near, and plants a kiss on his lips that says it all. That sensation they always get when they touch or kiss, like firework- like a spark of electricity goes through both of them.

And Akihito releases the deep kiss. "Do you remember now?!" He says, very proud of himself.

"No," Asami says causally. It's entirely true that he doesn't remember, but he is internally thinking—definitely mine.

As much as Akihito wanted a moment to himself with Asami, they have to remember they’re still in the midst of a serious fight, and the brothers need back up.

At the same time, a bounty hunter, who was busy fighting the two brothers, finds cover near where Asami and Akihito are. He witnesses the exchange. He sees Asami releasing Akihito. The kiss! He turns red with anger as he sees the two from his little hiding place.

“Hey! that must be the witch- that’s Asami’s soulmate! Everyone! Let’s get em!” He spews out to the remaining bounty hunters, who are currently distracted by Kou and Takato. 

The bounty hunter throws a fireball from where he’s hidden. He directs it at Akihito. He wants Asami to watch as he kills his soulmate in front of his very eyes.

Akihito is slow to react, as it happens so quickly. He sees it far too late, and he’s frozen stiff. He just looks as it barrels towards him at high-speed.

But Asami is not ever slow to react. He sees that it's heading straight for Akihito, and forcefully tugs Akihito towards himself. Pushes the petite blond against his chest, and spin them both around. So the attack narrowly misses.

But they both lose their footing and plummet to the ground as a result. Asami is the one that takes the brunt of the fall damage, while Akihito falls right on top of him.

“Are you alright?” Asami asks nonchalantly, lifting his head off the ground to see if Akihito’s got away unscathed.

“Yeah, I’m fine.” Akihito starts, but then he sees the bounty hunter that fired on them, coming towards them. “KOU FREEZE THEM!” He yells in a panic.

And just like that, the whole floor of bounty hunters become all frozen—even Asami’s frozen.

Kou and Takato round a corner to check on Akihito, who they imagine is in trouble. They find him on the ground on top of Asami’s chest.

“IS THAT DEMON ATTACKING YOU?!” KOU demands to know as he rounds the corner. “Are you okay?!”

“Noooo!” Akihito struggles to sit up from his compromising position, but even though Asami is frozen, he was still holding on to him so tightly. “He saved me!” He says, finally getting out and sitting up.

Takato looked a little unconvinced, “There are too many of them! And Kou won’t be able to freeze them forever, What do we do?!" 

“We let them handle it!” Akihito says, pointing to the doorway just as Suoh leads the group of Asami’s task force into the upper floors of the warehouse.

Kou looks surprised and turns to Akihito, “Hey, by chance, do we know them too?” He quietly asks. He is certainly not looking at the blond hunk leading the charge.

“Umm. Yeah, Kinda.” Akihito says. He is starting to worry that since they don’t seem to remember each other, maybe they’ll start shooting.

Kou’s freezing power subsidies, and Asami looks around, confused as to where the little witch suddenly disappeared to. When he sees Akihito with the two other strangers, he’s immediately back to action, brandishing another fireball, thinking the blond is in trouble.

Akihito spins around and rushes towards him, “No, its okay, Asami. These are my brothers.”

“Brothers?” Asami says, taken aback. He looks at the three of them. Three witches. Three brother witches. “You're the Charmed Ones,” He says with an almost disgusted look on his face.

“You don’t have to say it so mean,” Takato shoots back. He’s already not liking this Asami guy...

“Wait a minute, but bullets aren’t gonna do anything?” Kou ignores them all, as he’s taken a keen interest in the so-called magical defense squad. He’s worrying that the group of humans won’t be able to defend themselves.

But the squad immediately starts exchanging fire with the bounty hunters. The bounty hunters are confident, when they see the humans armed with bullets. Since bullets do not affect them, but these aren’t your average bullets. They are specially made bullets that pack a small explosion in them. They won’t kill higher-level demons, but these bounty hunters- it’ll work like a trick.

One of the bounty hunters demons take a few bullets laughing as he feels no pain, but soon something erupts inside of them. He screams, and he flames up and turns to dust- vanquished.

“Those are some bullets!” Kou turns around, fangirling to the other two at what they’ve just witnessed.

Asami steps up and vanquishes a third demon, the one that had thrown a fire ball at Akihito. The two reminding are quickly surrounded and vanquished before they can escape. But the squad starts to circle around where the three brothers and Asami are. Unsure if the three witches are friends or foes.

Asami raises a hand, “It’s alright there with me.” He says, and the squad turns away to search the rest of the perimeter.

Suoh comes up to the three, re-holstering his weapon, and Kirishima is behind him. “You okay, boss,” he asks. Asami gives him a curt nod, and Suoh continues. “We have Okazaki in custody downstairs… sir. This could be bad. If the underworld knows about what the Whitelighter said - those bounty hunters are gonna be the least of our worries…”

  
“A Whitelighter? What did she say?” Akihito interjects. “Wait a minute…RINKO! RINKO! I know you can hear me! Come down here this instant!” He calls out to the sky.

“What are you doing? Rinko’s not here?” Takato elbows his younger brother. He's confused as to what he’s talking about and why he’s calling for his girlfriend.

Akihito remembers something now about Rinko. It was one of the vague flashes he saw in his premonition. Rinko was discovered to be a whitelighter, and she was going to tell some kind of council of elders about Asami- it was the last thing he saw.

  
_____________________________________

  
“Enough of this! Haven’t you seen enough.” Rinko argues determinedly to the group of elders.

“Why did you go to the demon…” The eldest one, the highest member on the council, speaks.

“Because! What you’re doing isn’t right! This isn’t what I had in mind when you said you were doing a test. What about Akihito? You can’t just mess with the Charmed One's personal lives like this. They have free will! Plus, why does it even matter I went to Asami- look, he even protected Akihito. Before he even knew he was a Charmed One! Doesn’t that mean he’s passed the test!?” She continues, she’s fuming a little bit that they aren’t taking her words seriously.

“Well, your horrible misbehaving and interfering has only put into question that fact. What would have happened if he hadn’t been warned about the fact he had a soul mate. Honestly, it's like you’ve affected the outcome of the results with your meddling and-”

“EXCUSE ME! Are you trying to say you’re gonna restart the test!! Are you CRAZY?! This- This inexcusable! Do you want the Charmed Ones to abandon the side of good? Because thats what's going to happen if you do this again! I promise you they won’t see this as protecting them from Asami. These aren’t the Charmed Ones of the past. These Charmed Ones want to live a normal life as much as possible. They don’t want their destiny to hold them down. What happened to free WILL and not INTERFERING in their lives and the decisions they make!? Isn’ that what this very council was built on! If you continue to PRODE and poke into their personal lives like this - I think you will find they won't be very forgiving!” Rinko seethed as she made her arguments.

The council murmurs to each other, as they look around to each other.

“End the test. Restore there memories. If you're that concerned about Asami- then just keep a watchful eye on it.” She continues, albeit a bit calmer.

Just then, she hears Akihito calling for her. She knows she’ll have to do a lot of explaining… So she excuses herself from the council, allowing them to make the final decision.

She orbs on to the warehouse floor, near Akihito while he’s still yelling up to her. Asami men point weapons up at her instinctively, until Asami waves them away.

“Ugh…Hi..” She says wearily.

“RINKO?” Takato’s and Kou’s mouth practically hit the floor when they see her.

“I-I know I have a lot of explaining to do. But. I didn’t know what the council was up to. I’ve been trying to get it fixed. They’re about to deciding on what to do now…” she tries, although she’s avoiding eye contact with Takato.

She’s groaning internally to herself. It all such a mess. And the consequences of the council's horrible decision making is going to be mostly on her.

But just as she’s starting to straighten out- ready to explain everything. There’s a sudden bright light around the group. Tiny blue orbs fall from it, and on to all of them. It’s almost like snow, and they’re all dazzled and shocked by it.

It’s their memories of the last few weeks that are returning to them.

Rinko smiles. They actually listened to her it seemed! At least she won’t have to explain everything…

“What the HECK,” Kou says his face in disbelief, as his memories return. He breaks the awkward silence thats permeating the room. “Did the council do this?!”

There’s another pause, as everyone dwells on the memories they’ve received again. Until Akihito speaks up, “What was the point of this? Are they trying to make me forget about Asami? They wanted to separate us?” Akihito says he turns to Asami, worriedly.

Rinko cast her eyes down. “It was a test. They don’t trust Asami. I think they wanted to see if you guys where truly soulmates…and well. He didn’t even know you, but he still saved you. So…he passed. I’m sorry. I didn’t know they would go to these lengths.”

“Is that it? It was just some stupid test?” Asami speaks up. He steps forwards, hands in his pockets, annoyance in his tone. “They fuck with our lives, and all we get is our memories back. Like we ought to be grateful for that. And what they just get off scot-free? And all you can say is - you’re sorry?” Asami starts, he takes a step closer to Rinko.

But Akihito holds him back, although Asami can put on an air of calmness. Akihito can tell that Asami is actually pissed. “Asami. Let’s not blame Rinko, I believe it wasn’t her fault.”

Asami ignores Akihito for the time being and keeps talking directly to Rinko. “Do you have any idea what they’ve just done?…The mess your preciously little council has just caused for me?! Not only have they ruined a perfectly good weekend, but they’ve also just wreaked my whole business. The whole of the underworld now knows that my soul mate is a witch. A fact, I was working diligently to hide, so that something like this never happened. Do you realize that there is now a horde of bounty hunters and demons that are going to be targeting me? Huh? I can defend myself. But it’s only a matter of time before they found out it’s Akihito and come for him. And he’s more or less defenseless by himself- and all you can say is you’re sorry?”

There was so much more he wanted to say. Like how this little incident would likely spin his entire Tokyo criminal empire toppling over and result in outright war on multiple fronts.

How his demon lieutenants would likely revolt and create factions, who would vie for power by making chaos in the human realm. Humans would probably die fighting a war they were needlessly getting caught up in because of what would be happening in the underworld. While others would probably die in the crossfire.

How many contacts would he probably lose? How many deals had he made, that would now get shredded? How many shipments of his product would go ‘missing’ or stolen?

How many millions and billions of yen had he probably just lost?

“Asami.” Akihito's calm voice brings Asami out of his runaway thoughts. “It’s alright. Listen. We can get through this- together.” Akihito says, trying to sound hopeful.

Asami jaw clenched in frustration. There was no point in getting angry at a bureaucrat… He turns to Akihito and guides him away for a moment so they can talk to themself for a moment.

“Akihito. I don’t think you understand the gravity of the situation. Akihito… I have to leave for a while.”

The young witch shoots his head around to look at him, “What? What do you mean?”

"It's for your own safety Akihito, we can't be seen together." He continues. 

"I don't understand," Akihito says, he just wants to understand what Asami is trying to say- he doesn't want to be separated.

“Your friend has left the clean up for this huge mess she’s just made on me,” Asami says pointedly. But he continues, a grating harshness in his tone. “And I know you and your family would give me a look if I talked about business or money- like I am some self-serving, greedy demon, and thats all I care about. And I am so very sorry I don’t have the luxury to be as self-righteous as all of you clearly are-”

Asami snaps at him. Although he immediately regrets his hurtful words, especially when Akihito looks taken aback.

Asami rubs his forehead, “Thats-thats not what I meant to say… I-I’m sorry. I just mean. I have a lot of people relying on me. And frankly, Akihito, if the underworld knows about us. I'm in serious trouble. I’m going to be dodging assassination attempts for years because of this. Every demon is going to be gunning for me. My business- everything I’ve ever worked for. I honestly can’t tell you if it's still going to be here tomorrow.” Asami says, and he exhales.

Akihito looks up at him, he reaches up and rubs the older man's chest. Okay, he hadn't really considered all of this. 

“Asami. I'm sorry. But, don't you think we'd be better together. We-" he gestures to his brothers "are the Charmed Ones. And you're a big baddie demon- we can get through this together. I know we can!" He says hopefully. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> my computer has been having problems as of this morning (9/08) 😭😭😭 my screen is like flickering and I have to go to a shop- covid is probably gonna effect how long it will take to get it fixed so who knows 🙃 I was planning on taking a break this week anyway, but I was Still planning on working On some thing and just not posting. So I’m pretty upset as it means I can’t do anything 😣 And who knows how much it’s going to cost to fix it- I swear I always have computer problems during the worst time- twice in college during finals my computer popped out and now during a pandemic when I depend on my computer 😭😭😭 at least I posted this chapter last night! That was damn lucky!


	21. Chapter 21

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> ahhhh!! 😳 i know i havent updated in awhile! But i've just been so swamped and busy! my computer died and then i got it back and then i had so much catching up to do and then more busy. 
> 
> Anyway! I tried to get this out as soon as possible since i knew some people wanted a continuation! sorry, its a lot of dialogue.
> 
> Wanted to thank FanFic3112 for some ideas for this chapter ❤️

“I don’t understand why we can’t just clear all this up. We can't have demons connecting it to the Charmed Ones and thereby potentially exposing them. It could be putting them into unnecessary danger.” Rinko argues in front of the council. 

“As we have pointed out. We are not in the habit of _aiding_ demons and their criminal enterprises plus we-“ The head of the council of elders speaks.

“He’s half-demon, actually.” Rinko corrects.

The elder, Rinko imagined, was probably rolling his eyes under his great hood, but he continues to speak. “We are _not_ in the habit of _aiding_ half-demons and their criminal enterprises- either. Plus perhaps if he should give up his shady and illicit business we would all be spared this - but it’s reasonable to believe he won’t. Even if his soul-mate is a Charmed One.”

“Plus. We believe. He will preserve his own self-interest and likely simply deny any such dalliances with a witch. I _doubt_ it will be as bad as you have suggested.” Another elder on the council gives her opinion. “Since we didn’t get to complete our test without _your_ interference, this experience will likely serve as another test, and we shall see how he handles it…”

Rinko is getting vehemently and increasingly more annoyed, “Another test?! You do realize Akihito believes that this very council is trying to sabotage his relationship. You’re treading a very thin line with all these disruptions in their personal lives! Asami saved Akihito’s life even though he didn’t even remember who he was!”

“Enough of your insolence, girl!” The head of the council speaks up in anger. “I think we’ve heard quite enough from you. You say he didn’t remember - but he had heard from YOUR mouth that he had a soul mate…” The council members calms himself and returns to a steady tone. “You say we are sabotaging and disrupting their personal life. But _if_ Asami is an agent of evil, with dark intentions, as we suspect he might be. Then HE is the one that will do more than just disrupt there lives, and we have every right to protect the interest of the side of good! Rinko, you have no idea the risk we are even taking, allowing this relationship to even continue!”

Rinko cast her eyes down and sighs. She was trying her best, but it looked like the council was washing their hands of this situation they had caused. 

____________________________________________________

Two weeks pass, and it feels like a lifetime passes.

Akihito tries to get back to work. Some of his contacts in the underground tell him something is brewing. However, he can’t get a straight answer from anyone and even less so from the man himself.

Asami has stayed away for the entirety of the two weeks. He occasionally contacts through the phone, but it’s minimal.All Akihito knows is that he’s not a Sion, or at least he’s “officially” not at Sion. Apparently, his reputation as a normal human businessman is on the line, so he stays out of the office.

Asami had said that he would be dodging assassination attempts for years potential - but nothing of the sort gets back to Akihito. Although that didn’t mean they hadn’t happened in the two weeks that followed the warehouse 33 debacle.

All he knows is that Asami’s is likely in big trouble and dealing with a few factions of demons that are causing him problems. He had apparently quelled most of the uprising by merely denying the existence of a so-called “witch-soulmate.” And by also claiming that Okazaki had reason to want him dead by concocting some crazy story to ruin him completely.

And it was for that reason that it was best there be minimal communication between the two, while somethings where getting cleared up on his side. But as it was… Akihito didn’t really like being left in the dark. He thought he had made it clear at the warehouse that they should deal with it _together_.

How long would this ‘minimal contact’ go on? Weeks? Months?

Akihito was finding it even hard to be away from Asami for two weeks. It must have been the soulmate bond keeping them tethered together, and the separation was hard on Akihito.

But what was worse was that he wasn’t sure if it was just him- Was Asami finding it just as hard and putting on a brave face? Or was Asami finding it just as difficult to stay away…

_________________________________________________

“I admit… I was a little harsh about Asami,” Takato says as he shuffles nervously in his seat. He’s out having a much-needed talk with Rinko. “But I can’t deny it anymore. And neither can the council…They are soulmates whether we like it or not. I think I realized it at the warehouse- I’ve never seen Akihito so sure about anything. And now that they’ve been separated cause of all of this- I see how it's affecting him not being able to see him…”

Rinko and Takato were finally able to have a moment to talk everything out. After everything that had happened, they had hardly been given a chance to come to terms with some things. Takato was beginning to accept the fact that she was a Whitelighter even though she had initially lied about it.

He had understood her hesitant not to tell the truth. It’s not as if, at the time, he was jumping to tell her that he was a witch. They came to understand that perhaps it was fair that both of them had hidden their identities.

Although truthfully, Takato wasn’t entirely sure what it meant for their relationship. On one end, part of the reason he had chosen to date her in the first place was to have some normalcy in his otherwise un-normal life. Rinko had appeared to him as a normal friendly neighborhood girl, but she was just as much ingrained in the magical world as he was.

But he felt like his concerns had to take a back seat now. Especially with all that was going on with Akihito. He thought it was petty if he complained about such things to her, as being a Charmed One meant on some level he can’t have normalcy - even in his relationships. And it was maybe about time he just accepts that.

And frankly, it was nice having her being a confidant. She really knew everything about the brothers, and of course, about their struggles becoming the Charmed Ones.

Plus he wanted to keep a close eye on her and make sure she sent his and his brother's concerns to the council.

“You know I’ve been up to the council so many times since the warehouse. Really, Takato, I am trying my best. They still don’t trust Asami..and well, I can’t blame them on some level. But I do trust Akihito’s feelings for him. And maybe that should just take priority.” Rinko starts.

It was true that she had gone up to the council many times to argue on behalf of Asami and Akihito, but it was of no use.

“I don’t think they understand. I’ve been doing some research myself into soulmate bonds. They are very rare, and I can only imagine how rare a soul mate bond between a demon and witch is—especially a Charmed One and a demon such as Asami. I mean, we are talking like one in a billion. Or something like that. I know they don’t trust Asami, and you know I am not exactly keen on him. But.. well. What if something happens to him? I know it's only been a few weeks since they’ve known each other, but I already feel like they have a powerful bond. Akihito trusts him implicitly. If something should happen to Asami- like some fall out from the warehouse 33 things…”

“It would crush him…” Rinko says understandingly.

“Yes. Just think about how he was when he couldn’t remember Asami. Something was not right with Akihito at all. He was so lost and confused. I had no idea what had happened to him because I didn’t… I didn’t know what he had lost..and that was just- just the council fucking around for a weekend…And what if it becomes permanent…or he gets hurt. And if it’s because the council interfered? Do you see where I am going with this… Akihito has always been the rebellious type. They need to understand that if they are messing with Asami- it’s going to affect Akihito and, therefore, their precious ‘Charmed Ones’.”

Rinko thought on it for a while. She rubbed her chin and took a sip of her coffee. They had met at a local coffee shop and were sitting in one of the more secluded parts of the shop so they could talk in private.

“I don’t think they’ll do the same thing again… but they are still cautious… They..they told me something. And I don’t really know what to make of it but…” Rinko starts, she bits her lips as if carefully considering her words.

“Please. Just out with it..” Takato responds.

“Well. They have reason to believe that Asami… Asami may be trying to turn Akihito.”

“What do you mean turn?”

“Like…Turn him to the dark side-”

Takato scoffs interrupting her. “What is this? Star Wars or something?”

“I mean it Takato. We’ve been worried this entire time that he was just going to kill Akihito or the Charmed Ones and steal your powers or something. But he doesn’t have to. He could keep the soulmate bond, in fact, chances are he’s just as tied to the soulmate bond as Akihito is. He doesn’t want to kill Akihito. But that doesn’t mean he can’t _persuade_ Akihito.”

“It’s laughable. Akihito is not going to join the dark side! Have you met Akihito!? No way.” Takato says in disbelief.

“Takato, remember what you told me about the crystal cages and Asami getting electrocuted. He must have been responsible for that. He twisting Akihito against you and Kou. Made you two seem like the bad guys, and him look innocent. He could be trying to turn him. Turn him against the council- and trust me. I know the council has its faults - but we are still talking about the side of GOOD. Thats what I am worried about.”

Takato thinks on that. He had certainly considered something similar to that after Asami got electrocuted a few weeks back. It had all certainly worked out pretty well in his favor. But Takato had mostly thought it was just a ploy to get Akihito to trust him. And maybe even persuade Akihito that his brothers were against him. But to seriously consider turning Akihito evil? Preposterous. Akihito and evil they were two words that would never go together.

“Akihito would never. I don’t understand. How could he possibly turn him evil?”

Rinko signs. “Takato. What have you heard about what Asami’s been doing since the warehouse? Have you heard that he was denying he had a soulmate?”

“…Yes. Akihito said that a lot of demons were leaving him alone because he denied having a soulmate that was a witch.” Takato answer reluctantly.

“That is true. He has been telling people that it was a lie, and there is no witch-soulmate. It has worked very well for him against some of the low-level demons. There are some including some high-level demons that won’t listen to him no matter what he says and are going against him. Which I am sure he is having some difficulties dealing with. BUT. Many higher-level demons were not satisfied with that response, ones that are important clients or brokers for him and his business. But he somehow turned them into allies anyways. He was able to keep the support of many high ranking demons. And the council believes… he won over their support by telling them the truth.”

Takato sits up. “…What are you saying?”

“They are just rumors. Please don’t give this information to Akihito- we don’t have any proof of this, and it could just play in exactly with what Asami is trying to do… But the rumors is that he told a group of important clients and some higher-ups in his company. That he does have a soulmate, and it’s not just any old witch. It’s a Charmed One. And he is planning on turning him. And once he does turn him, the side of good will take a major blow, and it’ll cement his place in power. That they should stay with him and ride this out until his goals are complete and they agreed to work together...”

Takato looks away from Rinko after her answer. Deep in thought. There was an awkward pause, and he looked serious. But then he slumped back into his chair and a smile built on his lips. Rinko’s taken aback. A smile was not the reaction she thought she was going to get. 

I mean Takato had played the protective brother act all this time. But now he was smiling at hearing the news that Asami had likely had some evil plot.

“Don’t you see…” Takato finally speaks, responding to her clearly confused expression. “It’s the other way around! Asami thinks he can turn Akihito, turn him to the dark side. But really it's opposite…Akihito’s the one thats gonna turn him… Its a battle of wills...”

_____________________________________________________

“Ugh.. Are you sure this is okay?” Kou asks, he feels incredibly awkward for some reason, and he is trying to look anywhere but the driver's seat.

“Yeah, of course, it's okay,”

“Um, But…I..I thought we needed to stay away from everything to do with Sion.”

Kou turns around to face the man driving him home. Ridiculously tall and blond. Suoh. One of Asami’s men.

“Don’t worry. It’s okay. The focus is all on Asami. Nobodies looking at me. Plus, I’ve recently been given clearance to pick you up from work to make sure you get home safely while this is all going on.”

“..how about Akihito? Does someone pick up Akihito during all of this? He is the one without an active power.”

“Well, we have tried to but, he puts up quite a fight every time we do….He thinks are cars are to fancy and he doesn't want to be seen in them. But don’t worry, we keep an eye on him.”

“Yes…ugh.. he is rather stubborn. I guess..”

“Perhaps you could convince him to take the car. We’d all feel a little better if he did especially when things are so uncertain as they are…”

Kou’s workplace wasn’t that far from the manor so they arrive at the house pretty speedily. And Suoh stops right in front of it.

“Oh.uh. Yeah, I’ll do my best. Thanks for the ride…”

“Kou. Before you go.” Suoh intercedes before Kou departs. “I know we didn’t exactly get off on the best foot when we first met… y’know given the flash grenades and I tied you up and all.. But I hope you know it really wasn’t personally. I was just following orders. But I’d like to think we have the same goal. We both just want the best for your brother, Akihito. And of course, to keep you and your brother safe. I hope we can be on the same page in the future…”

“Ah. No. I-I didn’t take it personally. It’s forgotten.” Kou responds although he avoids looking the man in the eye, he moves to get out of the car.

“Well. Here. Take my number in case anything comes up or you need anything.” Suoh hands him a business card. Kou is all but getting out of the car now, but he turns around to pick up his coat, and Suoh flashes him a light smile and says; “…I can also cook a mean curry too..”

“Right.” Kou’s face must have gone brick red, and he quickly turns away from Suoh. “I-I’m sure you can. Right. um..” He chuckles nervously. “I’m going in now then. Thanks for the ride.” Kou tries to redeem himself, and he lightly waves to the older man and turns on his heels up the steps towards the front door of the manor.

As soon as he gets to the entrance and closes it, he presses his back against the door. Red in the face. Palms sweaty.

 _What the heck was that._ He thinks. He must be going crazy.

He can’t think on it too long because as soon as he enters the house, the smell of something burning reaches his nose.

“Uh-oh!” He rushes to the kitchen and finds a frying pan with burning food. Smoke is lightly filling the room, but the smell is the worst of it. He turns off the burners.

 _What the heck? How did this happen? Who left this on?_ Kou thinks as he looks around the room, and finds lots of food laying around as if someone was in here cooking something.

“Wasn’t Akihito supposed to be cooking dinner?” He wonders out loud. Akihito had sent him a text a little while ago that he was at home and preparing dinner.

“Akihito?” He calls. He goes back to the main living room and calls up the stairs, “Akihito?” But there's no respons,e and he knows that Takato’s not home.

“Huh? Where did Akihito run off to?” It was as if Akihito had seemingly disappeared without a trace in the middle of cooking dinner.

Although Kou had a feeling, he was likely in good hands….

 _Hmm… Curry…_ He thinks, as it appears, his dinner plan are squashed.

But Somewhere across town, Akihito was indeed in good hands…

“Asami! I-I was cooking something!” Akihito attempts to scold Asami, as soon as he touches down on the penthouse floors. “You can’t just kidnap me like that - you know blinking makes my stomach lurch..” But it’s absolutely of no use as he’s quickly spun around and interrupted with a quick kiss.

“Akihito.” Asami releases him, “I negotiated getting three hours off my schedule from Kirishima- its cause for celebration,” A smile builds on his lips.

Akihito’s taken aback. “A whole three hours! Wow! You really are a good businessman,” Akihito responds playfully, and he hooks his arms around Asami’s neck.

Asami chuckles and lifts the little witch up so he can take him away to the bedroom. They have some catching up to do…

* * *

I didn't know where else i could post this but i noticed it the other day and i wanted to share since i know some people have been very distressed about the most recent chapter of finder and i wanted to post some theories!

if you haven't read the newest chapter be aware that there is some **SPOILERS** ahead.....

So the first picture we Mikheil has just shot Yuri and we see he is fine as he is wearing some kind of armor underneath his regular t-shit that seems to blend in perfectly with what he is wearing.

Doesn't it look suspiciously like the t-shirt Asami is wearing in 2nd picture? which is when they are in the hideout right before they go to the warehouse. i don't know how high quality this image will become when I post it but you can actually see it has a similar texture to Yuri's armor - the kinda scaliness. that detail is probably not accidental

Also the more I thought about it. The more i was like Asami doesn't wear a t-shirt under his button-downs, its a rather old fashion thing to do (my dad does it honestly) and I don't think we've ever seen him wear that before- he often wears it half off with all the buttons off when he's having a little sexy time with his photographer and he's definitely not wearing one then. 

So basically this is my evidence to suggest that I think Asami was wearing a bulletproof vest.

But! I do think, at least one shot went through - the first one as we see the exit wound on his stomach.

He looks really really surprised by the first one. As he was probably not expecting a bullet to go through his bulletproof vest. even though it possible for a bullet to go through vest. I'm kinda guessing that the other two shots on his upper back didn't actually hit him...but they likely hurt a lot and caused internal damage and bruising. The one-shot and all the other stuff that he's been through (two bullet graze wounds, just general exhaustion, he fell down on his knees after he shot all those people) It was probably enough for him to just pass out.

Also. see how yuri has blood on the side of his mouth from the hit. Asami also had that. when he was saying those three words we've all been waiting for.. 

I also think Akihito's puffy bulletproof vest and his backpack he was still wearing will mostly likely break the fall. So i think they will be okay.

So in conclusion, sensei they better be okay!!! 😭😭😭😭 

[ ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/189448646@N08/50415341086/in/dateposted-public/)  



	22. Chapter 22

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So gonna be doing two special Halloween episodes for our witches, upcoming ! So stay tuned!! 🎃🎃🎃

Rinko and Takato walk to the manor. They’ve already eaten their dinner, and they expect Kou and Akihito to be back home eating theirs.

Takato tells Rinko goodbye for the night, and they’ll talk more later. He promises he won’t tell anything to Akihito about what the council had heard about Asami.

He opens the door to the house and walks in. He’s surprised when he finds Kou alone and cooking dinner in the kitchen.

“Kou, what are you doing? Cooking? I thought you didn’t know how to cook.” Takato teases his younger brother, and he looks at the pot of food on the stovetop thats in the middle of cooking. “Where’s Akihito I thought he was making dinner?”

“Ugh. Well, he.. ugh. He’s busy... Asami was free suddenly..” Kou fumbles and he quickly turns down the heat on the stove. “I didn’t know you’d be back so soon. I-I wasn’t expecting you until later.”

“Yeah. Well, we got done a little early… So Akihito left you to fend for your self. Very sorry. You should have just ordered take out. I thought you said a while ago you’ve been wanting to try that new place.”

“Well. I-I changed my mind.” Kou fumbles a bit more.

Takato only briefly muses on the fact that Kou’s acting a bit strange. But he mostly ignores the fact that Kou was acting a little jittery and odd, he hadn’t put anything together. He only notices that Kou, who never cooks and is horrible at cooking and would likely burn the house down if he started to cook, suddenly…is doing just that. Alone in the house. And the pot of food is actually filling the kitchen with nice aromas and looked and smelled very good.

Who knew Kou could cook curry?

But, no Takato doesn’t notice so he plows on ahead at full speed.

“Well! I have some interesting intel to share with you thats _super top secret_. I felt you ought to know. You understand. Akihito can’t be made aware of it. At least not yet. Because none of this can get back to Asami - you understand. Rinko told me some interesting news that she heard from the council!”

He doesn’t give Kou a moment to register all that was said or to agree to the terms, he just continues on.

“WELL apparently! They have heard that Asami is telling most of the underworld that there is _no soulmate_ and that the club manager- what was his name again, Okazaki?- Okazaki was just lying. It's apparently quelled a lot of the trouble he’s had with some lower-level wannabes that think they can take his place. They believe Okazaki was lying - so they mostly won’t go after him anymore. But the reason the whole charade has worked out so well for him is because a bunch of high-level demons unexpectedly aligned themselves with Asami.

“Wait wait. What?” Kou who was still a little dazed and even more so by the speed of which Takato was breezing by all this information.

But Takato goes right on ahead, like a little gossiper he can sometimes be.

“SO the reason everyone in the underworld seemingly agrees that Okazaki was lying is because all these other higher-up demons are saying it’s true. The higher-ups quell the lower levels ones- tell them there's no reason to go after Asami and that there's no secret witch. So everything has mostly calmed down for him apart for a few little rebellions- EXPECT the council believes that Asami is actually telling those high-level demons _the truth!”_

“…The truth?” Kou fumbles, he's starting to realize that Takato is oversharing right now, and it's not a good idea. But Takato... plows right on ahead.

“Yes! That there _is_ a soulmate, who is a witch. And a Charmed One to boot- and that they should all agree to say that Okazaki was lying so that he can continue his plan, which involves turning Akihito evil!” Takato finishes and waits for Kou to react as if he's just dropped a bombshell.

It all starts to dawn on Kou, and he looks at Takato wide-eyed. “CAN WE GO INTO THE LIVING ROOM TO DISCUSS THIS FURTHER PLEASE!” He tugs Takato by the arm and practically drags him out of the room.

“Huh? Why? I thought you were cooking something?” Takato is very confused.

Why do they have to move to another room?Little does Takato know is that hidden in the pantry is exactly someone who shouldn’t have overheard that little private exchange.

Suoh was a little confused when Kou panicked when his brother returned home earlier than expect and told him to hide in the pantry- it was close quarters in here for the large blond man. It wasn’t his fault this happened. It wasn’t like he purposefully tried to sneakily listen in on a conversation, that was clearly not meant for his ears.

A little bit of information that had slipped that Asami-sama would probably be interested to know. He wants to step out and listen in on the continued conversation happening in the living room- he may be large but he can be stealthy when he wants to be.

A part of him hesitates. Kou had invited him here on friendly terms, after all. Potential on even _friendly_ then friendly terms..which Suoh was not averse to. In fact, it was why he had given Kou his number and suggest to make curry.He knew very well his boss had already swept away Akihito, and Kou’s dinner plans with him. He really thought it wouldn’t have been this easy- but oh it was.

Now, he had overheard something he shouldn’t have- a fact that was not really his fault. Kou was the one that insisted he hide. Presumably, because he didn’t want Takato to find out he was fraternizing with the enemy or something like that.

But now he was here and he had heard something that Asami-sama would certainly press him for more information about. He slowly peeks open the pantry door and creeps out until he’s hidden but still able to hear the conversation.

“-no sense. Wouldn’t it be bad to tell people he actually did have a soulmate that was a Charmed One.” Suoh hears the butt end of Kou’s sentence.

“You're not listening? Why did you have us come in here anyway? And why are we whispering… I thought you were cookin-”

“Never mind the food- get back to the point.” Kou begins.

“Fine. Fine. Fine. The point is… that Asami clearly believes he can turn Akihito to the dark side. And not only that- he’s advertising his evil plot to his demon buddies so that there's some kind of consolidation of power in the underworld or something like that…”

“…” Kou gives his brother a puzzled look.

“Don’t look at me. The underworld is apparently all about politics. He’s more or less promising his supporters a BIG victory. A big blow to the side of the good! Now... I told Rinko that it’s not possible. That Akihito would never go dark.”

“Well, it’s true. He loves being a witch. A GOOD witch, too. Is this what the council is afraid of? Do they think Akihito’s gonna be influenced? But it’s not possible!”

“Exactly. Thats what I told her. But I also told her that way back when all of this was beginning. Akihito told me a hundred times that he believed that Asami was _his_ ‘innocent’- well y’know what I mean. He’s not anywhere close to being a _real_ innocent. BUT I guess you can say he is someone that is in need of help from the Charmed One, y’know. And more importantly. He is a demon, but only a half-demon, which means technically he has a soul.

“So...Wait a minute…of course! Akihito’s been the one trying to make _him_ good…” Kou says, it was all dawning on him.

“Mhmm. I think..frankly. I think they could be both playing each other.”

“What? But..but Akihito really cares about him,” Kou, says now getting confused.

“Well of course he does. But the key, to all of this… Is deep down…so does Asami. They are soul-mates. I-I think if Asami _really_ wanted to turn him. He would have done it already. What’s taking him so long? The truth is I don’t think he can.”

“Because he knows Akihito would never.”

“More than that. It’s us. We are his brothers. We have an unbreakable bond of brotherhood- thats just as rare as his soul mate bond. Akihito would never betray us, he would never turn his back on us. I think Asami knows it would take a huge betrayal. And in the meantime, if Akihito was to find out that Asami’s probably been secretly plotting to kill the two of us and take our powers behind Akihito’s back. It might completely ruin the relationship they have now. But it’s more than that too… The fact that he can’t do it- Don’t you see.. it means we’ve already won.”

“You mean, Asami’s going around telling everyone he’s got a little Charmed One wrapped around his finger and it's gonna be a big win for the side of Evil. But actually… IT’s AKIHITO that has HIM wrapped around his little finger!” Kou sounded pleased and he lets out a light chuckle, “It’s somehow hilarious!”

Takato starts to snicker a bit as well. “Exactly! It’s obvious he has a soft spot for Akihito. He’s a powerful demon too. He could do all sorts of mumbo jumbo dark magic or something to have Akihito bend to his will or whatever. So why hasn’t he done it! The fact he can’t do it— it’s like the side of good has already won because… because Asami has a conscience after all! ”

“ONE point to the side of good. Zero for the side of evil. Ha!” Kou says playfully.

“Hell yeah! And we even get one powerful demon on our side! Huh-HA!” Takato high fives his brother.

They both had a little laugh and then Kou breaks it with another question.

“Should we be at all concerned that Asami probably wanted us dead?”

The little questioned dampened the mood a bit. Because yeah okay, it wasn’t a nice thought to think of the man currently dating your youngest brother had probably and was likely still plotting your death.

But, honestly, they had never much trusted Asami and knew he probably didn’t care a lick about them. But what could they do… he was Akihito’s soulmate and it seemed like Akihito was right in thinking he could change. Maybe their relationship with him could improve with time.

“We mustn’t tell Akihito about ANY of this,” Takato followed up.

Kou was already in agreement about it, and he nodded. “It would really upset him…”

“If he does find out, he might do something- something he’ll regret. And then it might cause a domino effect. Asami might do something desperate to keep it all together. Their relationship it is like a little house of cards. And WE have to do everything possible to make sure a strong gust of wind doesn’t topple it all over. And we have to remain super vigilant about Asami... which of course was a given. But even more so now.”

Kou nodded. He liked the little analogy Takato used. There seemed like such a truth to that. The fragility of Akihito's relationship with Asami. But if it all came crashing down- it could take them all with it. They could only hope that their words rang some truth - that Akihito actually had it well in hand. That Asami was actually the one that was seeing 'the light', so to speak and not the other way around.

But they had immense confidence in Akihito, maybe too much.

Kou's thinking about all of this when suddenly he is reminded of the large blond man in his pantry. He had honestly almost forgotten about him there, and it suddenly re-dawned on him that he had probably heard every word. And not only that, he was probably gonna tell everything he just overheard to his boss- if he hadn’t already!

_Oh Shitt!!_

“Takato! Ugh. M-my curry! Ugh. Lets uh.. bookmark this! Why don’t you go upstairs?” He practically tugs his older brother to the stairway, “You go upstairs! I have to have dinner! Y-yes, yes. I am starving we’ll talk later. Okay! Gotta go bye!”

He makes sure Takato, who is very flustered, reluctantly agrees to head upstairs before Kou scurries to the kitchen. He finds Suoh all calm and collective, he is already out of the pantry. Which clicks in Kou’s mind that he was DEFINITELY listening in on the conversation just now.

He’s by the stove, continuing to cook the curry. He has Akihito’s little apron tied around him, he had put it on before Takato arrived and they had just been having a good laugh about how silly it looks on him. They had just been sharing a little laugh, it had made Kou giggle and blush. And then they had started to cook the curry. Suoh made it look so easy.

Yes. They had just been breaking the ice very nicely and things were going well. Until Takato came rushing in as he always did.

WHY oh WHY did Kou think it was a good idea to hide him in the pantry. He was just too ashamed to admit it to Takato, he didn’t want him to know. But then Takato had to go and blab about Asami… and now.. now the ice had certainly come back…

It left a horrible taste in Kou’s mouth because now he REALLY REALLY couldn’t tell Takato that Suoh was in the pantry- not after he had openly announced “super top-secret intel,”

“uh. Suoh… um.. you didn’t happen to hear all of that… did you..” He asked hopefully.

There was no point for him to lie. “I did.”

“Y-your…off-duty aren’t you? Um... I would um... appreciate it if you didn't tell all of that to Asami…” Kou says, again hopeful.

Suoh sighed. “You’ve kinda put me in a difficult spot…”

There was a pregnant pause. They both look at each other.

“…And you haven’t put me in one…” Kou’s eyes flinch, and he bucks up his chin. “and I suppose coming out of the pantry and _accidentally_ overhearing the rest of that conversation when we left the kitchen- just put you in an even more difficult spot!” Kou said with venom, although he is careful not to raise his voice as he doesn’t want Takato to hear voices in the kitchen.

Suoh realized where the conversation is heading towards, and got defensive. He walks over to the other side of the kitchen island so they can talk more face to face. “Thats unfair. You're the one that put me in the pantry. You didn’t have to do that. I didn’t mean to overhear anything!” Suoh says, his voice is calm as he tries to de-escalate the situation. 

“You knew that Akihito wasn’t going to be here, _didn’t you_? Is that why you joked around about being able to make curry? Because y-you knew I would invite you over- like the idiot I am!!”

“No! It wasn’t like that! How was I supposed to know that Takato was gonna walk in and start gabbing about Asami? I-I came here of my own volition!”

Kou scoffs. “But you clearly don’t have enough of _your own volition_ to choose not to tell Asami any of those things you overheard!”

Kou was getting angry now, his hands curled into fist. It wasn’t like him to get angry. The middle child of the family. The _chill one._ The _airheaded_ one. The _careless and ditsy one._ The one who avoided confrontations, unlike his brothers who were always plucked to take a fight, and stand up for themselves. But Kou couldn’t let this slide. Not this time. He pressed on.

“Did you know, about what we were just talking about? Did you know what Asami was planning…D-did you know he probably wants to kill me, and Takato… and take our powers…But you came here… An-and _pretended_ -..” Kou couldn’t finish that thought because his voice just croaked in an awful way and he knew he was just gonna breakdown into tears if he finished that sentence.

“No! Thats not what happened.” Suoh adamantly defended himself, “…Kou?” The blonds eye’s softened and he went to reach out to him because he was feeling guilty. But as he reached out, Kou recoiled away.

“I think you should leave,” Kou said firmly and folded his arms. He bit down on his bottom lip holding back a sob thats threatening to come out.

Maybe Suoh should have argued something, told him it wasn’t how it looked. But he couldn’t help with that rather sad-looking look that Kou had on him, that told him that Kou was about to break. And somehow Suoh knew if pushed- it would only worsen the situation. So he only sighs and gives Kou apologetic eyes. He unties the apron around him and gently places it on the kitchen counter before he briskly heads towards the back exit.

That had not gone as expected…

____________________________

Akihito was completely dead to the world. Passed out on the mattress, sleep had taken him swiftly. Asami was vaguely impressed that he had last as long as he had.

He pulls Akihito closer and traces a hand up his thigh, to his lithe hips. The upside was that there was still some time left of the three hours Kirishima had given him. Perhaps he could catch some sleep before he had to go back to the grind. He lazily turns his head to check the time

Never mind. No, he didn’t. In fact, he went over twenty minutes.

He groans. Kirishima was never gonna let him have time off now.

He sits up. But then he gently leans back down again, since he wants to kiss Akihito on his forehead. He rushes to the bathroom and has a quick shower. He changes into another three-piece suit.

Asami doesn’t particularly like having to leave Akihito here, without a word. But he also knows that Akihito understands how prickly things have been after the warehouse 33 incident.

Once he’s dressed he goes back to the bedroom. Akihito is still dead to the world. He looks at the boys sleeping face, so peaceful and sweet looking. He sits down next to him, and he lightly pushes some blond strands away from his face

There's some part of him that wants to wake him up and screw him. Until he’s crying and begging all over again. This part of him, Asami is very familiar with. The voice in his head he’s always listening to. The part of himself he’s _always_ feeding as it’s _always_ hungry- insatiable really. 

But recently there been another whisper in his head…from where he’s not quite sure. This little whisper is telling him to kiss Akihito good night. To tuck him into bed and cover him with blankets. Because this quiet little voice is worried he’ll catch a cold. This little voice tells him to leave a note, telling Akihito how much he misses him. To make a point to say that he wishes Akihito would take the car he sends to his workplace every day, so that this little voice will know that he’s gotten home safe.

Asami groans a bit internally thinking about it. What had gotten into him? He hadn’t always been so _sentimental_. Was this because Akihito was his soulmate? The soulmate bond was making him protective, was it also making him go soft.

It had secretly concerned him, but he had tried to ignore it. As long as it didn’t interfere with his work, and it only remained a quiet little whisper in his head then there was nothing to worry about.

He leans down carefully, sweeps a gentle hand across his little lovers still flushed face. He pecks a sleeping Akihito on the lips. He pushes some of the blankets up as he does, just so the boy is properly covered.

He blinks to the office, in a matter of seconds. He knows he’s about 40 minutes behind schedule. And he’s imagining the earful he’s about to get from Kirishima, about keeping up his appointments. Although he’s hoping Kirishima will be a bit more understanding.

Somehow the secretary always knows when Asami blinks into the office, even though he is human it seems to be his one superpower. He knocks on the office door about a minute later, and Asami gives the alright to enter. He’s already settling into the office, and pouring himself a drink.

But it’s not just Kirishima that comes into the office, Suoh is with him as well. Given the look they both have, Asami figures he must have missed something.

“Yes?” He gives a questioning and a wary glance at the two.

___________________________

So the brothers were starting to sniffing him out.

And so was the council. He assumed as much after the council had messed with their memories. If they were willing to go that far they must be aware of something and were desperate.

But the fact that the rumors they heard were getting to the Charmed Ones was a concerning bit of information. Suoh’s report had seemed to indicate that Rinko had likely shared his information, probably without the consent of the council because of her special relationship with Takato. Then Takato shared what he had heard with Kou. And while Kou and Takato had seemingly agreed not to tell Akihito what it was they had heard it was still concerning.

Suoh was clearly troubled over the entire affair. As it had unfortunately made Kou very distrustful of him- it had probably put a damper on the building trust he had been working towards with the two older brothers. Suoh was worried that the situation might cause the brothers to be wary of accepting help or security from Asami or his men. Thereby putting themselves in danger.

They already had enough trouble keeping track of Akihito and having his guards be able to keep up with him. So having the brothers now becoming wary of the security procedures was simply another thing to think about.

Of course, Asami was mainly worried that the information would get back to Akihito. How would he react to such information? Perhaps he would think it was a lie.

It wasn’t a lie. By any measure. Only the most important of Asami's clients and members of the top branches of the demon world were told. In fact, Asami hadn’t wanted to do it. He practically had to expose Akihito, although he was still keeping somethings to himself for Akihito's own safety.

But, the move had salvaged much of his business after the warehouse 33 debacle.

It was a confusing predicament to be in. Yes. It had been his plan from the beginning. The crystal cage incident, getting Akihito to trust him. It had all been to complete this goal. He was slowly working on poisoning Akihito’s relationship with his brothers. But his plans had gotten interrupted. Especially after the council’s involvement.

Asami had intended to keep Akihito a secret until the job was done. He had envisioned coming back to the underworld victorious, the Charmed Ones dead their powers his.

But now he had a different conundrum. Now he had to keep his business partners abreast of certain details of his plan to ease the tension. Perhaps they would even interfere. Or perhaps they would try to rush the process, to ensure the job would get done.

The worst part was some had questioned him, as if he was not _able_ to do the job. That he had grown soft. That the soul mate bond would open himself up to being tempted to the other side, just as much as it opened Akihito up to the other side.

Obviously he had quickly stifled any whispers. But it was endlessly annoying that even Akihito’s own brothers were suggesting the same thing.

What was it they had said? Suggesting that Asami was more or less dragging his feet and for some reason holding back? That Asami couldn’t do it, that he had a “soft spot for Akihito”. That he had _a conscience_.

Preposterous!

He was a demon. Demon’s don’t have a conscience.

 _Only half a demon._ That little whisper reminded him of the fact. _Oh. SHUT up._ Asami burned in annoyance. It was ridiculous. There was no way he was dragging his feet. He was just…just taking his time. Being very careful.

The brothers had even gone as far as to say that it was Akihito, who thought he could turn Asami. Now that was an interesting bit of insight. Perhaps an indication that Akihito didn't wholly trust Asami. Asami couldn't exactly pinpoint anything that Akihito was doing that would somehow persuade Asami to join the side of good.

But perhaps that in itself was where the problem lied... 

That little annoying voice in Asami's head... that was Akihito's doing. It must have been.

But now that he was aware of it- he could be more conscious of it, more self-aware of how dangerous those little thoughts were- how they might have been slowly disrupting him from completing his goal. 

Now more than ever, he needed to stay focused. Now was the time for the real work to begin. 

...But of course, Asami needed to clean up the Warehouse 33 mess. Then it could begin...

He’d have to do something, now that the brothers were backing to being distrustful of him. He could come forward, claim to be transparent. Tell them it’s all a lie. Point to all the things he's been doing to keep them all safe- on Akihito’s behalf. That he would _never_ hurt his soulmates family.

Perhaps they could have dinner or something at the manor house. And while Akihito’s away he could speak to them. Tell them he thought they had gotten on better terms after all the warehouse 33 things, but now he hears the council is starting up wild rumors about him. That he hasn't given any reason for the brothers to think he’s plotting something.

He nods his head agreeing to his plan.

But then a thought comes to mind. His little incident with Takato’s co-workers had earned him some brownie points in both of Akihito’s brother's eyes. He had vanquished two fellow demons that threatened - not only Akihito but mostly Takato’s life. Perhaps he could prove himself in that way again…

He looks at the calendar on his desk and something immediately pops into his head.

Friday the 13th.

The day of bad luck. The day an old friend… would touch down on Tokyo.

Asami muses about it, while he sits in his office, smoking a Dunhill and plotting. He smirks.

He could use this… to his own advantage of course.


	23. Chapter 23

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: i have like a week before Halloween right?  
> Me looking at the calendar: YELLING "AHHHHH"
> 
> Hopefully, I'll get Halloween episode out before or on Halloween but I am slow.
> 
> Enjoyyy ❤️

Friday the 13th is an interesting day in the world of the Wicca.

In popular culture, superstition rains. Friday the 13th is associated with a day of bad luck.

In a way, there is some truth to that long-held superstition. All superstitions have some kernel of truth to them. They all had some beginning, where it may have held some truth. But time and place have ripped them away from their original context, making them seem silly.

Akihito had never been a superstitious person. He only ever associated Friday the 13th with some of his favorite horror flicks that he was always watching. And for the most part, that held true with his brothers as well.

In the past, Friday the 13th would pass like any other day, and it would hardly register in their mind. But this Friday the 13th would be their first as witches. Or at least, since they had known, they were witches.

So as the day soon approached, it had hardly crossed their minds when they saw the date on their calendar. That is until Asami called a meeting.

It was very unusual for Asami to call a meeting. Mostly because as far as everyone knew, he was still in hiding. Dealing with the fall out of the warehouse 33 fiasco, and that it wasn’t exactly safe for him to come to the manor.

But some preparations were made to make sure it was safe. At Sion, they used one of their shapeshifters on call to take a meet for Asami. So he’d be publicly somewhere else while he’d teleport to the manor and speak with the brothers.

Kirishima would have to stay behind with the decoy Asami, just to really sell it. And Suoh went to the manner, with his human team to make sure everything would be secure on that end. He’d make sure Asami teleporting to the manor wasn’t traced by anyone else. The human team was also on standby because it was likely they would need to up the manor's security after the meeting adjourned.

And so, Asami teleported to the front door of the manor. Akihito had scolded him last time about blinking in the manor. He had said his brothers found it to be annoying and a breach of privacy if he just blinked into the manor all 'willy-nilly' all the time. So he was asked to use the door, like a normal person, and knock even.

He waits at the door, already grumbling about what a waste of time it was. Akihito answers the door, a slight blush forming on his cute little face, and he lets Asami enter. They only get a moment of privacy in the front hall. A brief little kiss and some wandering hands before their interrupted by Takato.

“Could you save that for later?! Come on. We’re all waiting. What's the big idea summoning us like this. I had to get off work early for this.” He playfully chides.

Akihito blushes fervently at getting caught kissing by his brother, but he bucks up and leads Asami into the living room where Kou is nervously awaiting.

Kou believes this meeting was called because of what Suoh overheard. In his mind, Asami knows exactly what Kou and Takato suspicions were about him. He thinks Asami is calling the meeting, perhaps to clear the air or to deny any such rumors.

Which he is nervous about because he had yet to tell Takato that Suoh overheard the whole thing. Oh, how he wanted to. He was furious with himself and with Suoh about the entire situation. But he was so afraid of Takato’s lecture - either lecturing him about fraternizing with Suoh or lecturing him about letting Suoh overhear everything. Thats why he didn’t tell Takato about either.

“I’m sorry for calling you all in like this. But I’m afraid it’s rather urgent. Have any of you heard about what happens on Friday the 13th?”

Kou noticeably relaxes.While Akihito perks up behind Asami, “You mean Jason?!” Everyone looks puzzled at Akihito momentarily, not getting his horror movie reference. “You know..Crystal Lake? Hockey masks?” Akihito’s shoulder slump as no one understands. “Never mind,”

“I’m surprised, Asami. I wouldn’t have pegged you for the superstitious type.” Takato chimed in, thinking the discussion was going to be a lead into old superstitions.

“I’m not particularly. But every superstition has some kernel of truth to them, but they’ve just become more exaggerated and meaningless over time.”

“Alright, so then I guess we’ll be looking out for black cats, walking under ladders, and breaking any mirrors. Got it! Couldn’t you have sent an email?” Takato continues to be playful. 

“No…” Asami starts before he’s interrupted again.

Akihito puts his hands on his hips, “Is that why you called us in here, Asami!” Akihito chastises before Asami can get a word in.

Kou’s not in the mood of joining in on the playfulness.

“No. This isn’t about superstitions. This is about a demon that comes on Friday the 13th,” Asami finally cuts through to drop the information he wants, and the group suddenly stiffens. They look at each other and back to Asami. “His name is Barbas. He’s a fear demon that only gets out of the underworld one day of the year to hunt witches.”

“A fear demon? Is he in the Book of Shadows?” Takato sits up in interest.

“I would imagine he would be. He’s not your everyday kind of a demon. But he can only hurt you through your greatest fear. He uses it to you kill you, so you die of fear. He was too powerful, so he’s eternally bound to stay in hell. But every year, he’s given a chance to break those bonds, on Friday the 13th. He has to kill 13 unmarried witches before midnight, and if he succeeds, then he’s free to live on the surface.”

They head upstairs to the attic and look within the Book of Shadows. Sure enough, they find the entry on Barbas.

“Upper-level demon, Ancient and powerful. Has the ability to read the fears of his victims and use those fears against them… He derives his life force by feeding off the fears of witches. If he can kill 13 unmarried witches before the stroke of midnight on the 13th, he will be able to break free from his eternal bonds and walk the earth for all eternity. A witch's only defense is to identify and then release her greatest fears. Do not rely on your Wicca powers for defense, for in the face of your greatest fear…those powers are paralyzed. Let go of your fears, and trust in the greatest of all powers…” Takato reads aloud from the entry.

“He kills you with your own fear…If he’s so powerful, then why hasn’t he been able to kill 13 witches,” Kou steps in, sounding interested.

“Thats right, he hasn’t been able to do it… But he shouldn’t be underestimated. He is still very dangerous. You’d be helpless to do anything against him since he is immune to the power of witches. Even the power of the Charmed One.”

“So how do we stop him!” Akihito confidently buts in.

“You don’t. The only way you get him is to avoid him. Stay as far away from him as possible, don’t be alone. Avoid things that are your greatest fear. Stick together.” Asami answers.

“What do you mean by “greatest” fear?” Takato questions.

“Everyone has something they're afraid of. He somehow knows, and he can use it against you. Like for example, maybe you’re deathly afraid of dying in a house fire. He’ll start one in your house and slowly make you watch. It sort of is a mind trick, heightening your sense of terror until you can’t take it anymore, and you die from the fear.” Asami explains.

“Okay. But how come we can’t do anything about him? Isn’t he going around killing unsuspecting witches? Shouldn’t we put a stop to that somehow?” Akihito steps in. He doesn’t like the sound of just ‘sitting this one out.’

“It’s not like you guys know much about other covens in Tokyo? What else is there to do? I’m telling you as a warning. He might not bother going after you three since the Charmed Ones tend to stick together. Barbas has a tendency to go after the weakest link, or whatever is convenient. He just needs 13 dead witches. I’m just warning you, so you don’t give him the opportunity.”

“I have a lot of things to do tomorrow, though….” Kou already starts to complain.

“I do too. We have a huge project coming up at work” Takato also chimes in.

“Hey! I also have a meeting with my editor tomorrow too!” Akihito, not to be outdone, also states.

Asami groans internally. “You know you guys are all more alike than you think. I had a feeling all of you wouldn’t be willing to give up your daily life. Even if you could be putting yourself in danger…” he sighs. It was true. Those brothers were all pretty stubborn. Akihito the most stubborn of them all. “But it should be alright. If you just go about your day, as long as you stay with people… As I said, he probably won’t want to go after the Charmed Ones- it's too much work. I just wanted to warn you.”

“Okay, so it sounds like he’s kinda like the boogeyman of the Wicca world,” Akihito says.

“Yes. I suppose. He can usually only kill about half a dozen witches. Or less. It's hard to track down witches, you know. He only has 24 hours to find them and kill them. And most witches have heard of him, so they stay away and make it difficult for him to reach 13.” Asami continues.

“He sometimes kills six witches! How can we let that happen? Can’t we- I don't know…try to warn other witches in Tokyo. I don’t like the idea of just letting him kill a bunch of people.” Akihito says he’s getting persistent.

“Well. It’s impossible to know who will be his target. Sion is putting its ears to the ground tomorrow to see who his victims are. Sometimes he goes after a whole coven, slowly taking them out one by one. But, unfortunately, I don’t know what else can be done…” Asami frankly didn’t really care about these other witches. But If Akihito was gonna be picky about it...

“Will you keep me posted?” Akihito asks.

“Of course,” Asami replies, with a little smile for his soulmate. This little meeting was giving him plenty of opportunities to act like a good guy.

“Hmmm, maybe we should brainstorm that part in the book that tells us to identify our fears so that he can’t manipulate us?” Takato suggest.

“Hmmm. Well, I’m pretty sure he’s gonna have some difficulty with my fear. Where is he gonna find murderous clowns?” Kou jokes.

The two other brothers laugh. But Asami rolls his eyes. He knows better than to take Barbas as lightly as these brothers do.

“Hmm. I have a fear of getting stuck in an elevator. So I guess I should take the stairs tomorrow.” Takato takes it a little bit more seriously.

“Alright, alright. I admit it. I have a thing about heights. So probably shouldn’t be in any tall buildings or anything.” Kou re-thinks. “What about you, Akihito?”

Akihito rubbed his chin, thinking about it. “Well, I have a thing about sharks,” Akihito admits.

“Oh, come on. I thought we were gonna be taking this seriously.” Asami admonishes, crossing his arms.

“It’s true, though! I’ve always had a thing about sharks!”

“It’s totally true. He does have a weird fear about sharks. When we were kids, he’d even check pools to see if there was a shark inside.” Takato clarifies.

“Is that true?” Asami asked, a smirk building on his lips. Suddenly he can picture a young-looking Akihito inspecting pools.

“When I was very young, I watched Jaws. It was probably the first horror movie I ever watched, and it was both absolutely thrilling and terrifying. So I always had a weird thing about sharks and like the ocean.” Akihito tries to explain.

“So, why in pools though?” Asami asks.

“Obviously, that comes from watching James Bond and thinking everyone had a secret trap door in their pool where their pet sharks hide!” He shrugs his shoulder as if his line of thought was self-evident.

Asami lightly chuckles. “Okay, I guess I understand. So let's stay away from water or something like that.”

They headed back downstairs and decided to have dinner together. Asami puts on a mask of pleasantry, and acts cordial. He even has some moments where he bonds with other brothers in their mutual love of teasing Akihito.He doesn’t once address the elephant in the room, about what Suoh overheard the brothers discussing.

And when it’s all over, he can even say he had a nice time. He goes upstairs to Akihito’s room. 

“Yep. It’s pretty small. It’s mostly stayed the same since I was a kid. I got a new bed, though, and I made it a little bit more grown-up. Do you know I used the basement as a dark room for my photographs?” Akihito explains as he walks into his bedroom.

Asami steps into the room. It’s exactly as he pictured it, tiny and homey looking. Akihito was very clean, so it's pretty organized and modest-looking. The bed is only a full bed, so it's comparably small compared to his king. There's one large window in this room. Some of the furniture is pretty antique looking- like the rest of the house. It’s basically the exact opposite of his own contemporarily styled condo.

He passes Akihito and sits down on the mattress. He had already taken off his suit jacket and rolled up his sleeves.

“Can I sleep here tonight?” He asks, there's a mischievous glint in his eyes.

Akihito’s taken aback, and a blush returns to his face. “Are you crazy? My brothers will be just down the hallway.”

“I’ll be on my _best_ behavior.” He responds coyly. He reaches for Akihito and scoops him up. He plants him down on his lap. “As soon as the clock strikes midnight tonight- thats when Barbas comes out, and I wanna keep my eye on you. You always seem to find yourself in trouble whenever I take my eyes off of you, even for one moment.”

Akihito only rolls his eyes. “Asami, my brothers walk around this floor very unthinkingly. They’ll just come barraging right in this room without a care. I would rather not have them be traumatized, let alone how traumatized I’ll be thinking they saw anything. Plus, these walls are very thin!”

“Thats true. You aren’t particularly known for being quiet in the bedroom.” Asami teases with a wolfish smirk.

Akihito blushes, “H-hey! What's that suppose to me-”

Asami cuts him off. “But it’s okay. I found a very easy solution for that.” And he locks lips with the blond. His tongue coaxes Akihito’s mouth open, and soon even Akihito’s getting into it.

_________________________________________________

**OMAKE:**

Meanwhile, downstairs, Kou and Takato have decided to clean up. Akihito was the one that had cooked dinner, so it was only fair.

Kou has other things on his mind while he does the drying. He was surprised that Asami made no mention of what Suoh likely reported. What did that mean exactly… Did that mean Suoh hadn’t told Asami everything…

Had he been too harsh…

He still hadn’t told Takato everything, but maybe he should. But Takato would probably blow it all out of proportion, as he always does…

The worst part was that he would normally go to Akihito for something like this. Especially to vent about trying to avoid Takato’s wraith. On this occasion, though. There was no going to Akihito since it was related to things there were trying to KEEP from Akihito and his delicate relationship with Asami.

Kou was all on his own about this, and it made it even more insufferable.

In a way, since the incident, he had started to regret being so harsh to Suoh. He was just doing his job, after all. And he knew, since the beginning what kind of job that entailed. He was starting to regret some of the words he said, including accusing him of spying on behalf of Asami.

They didn’t really know what Asami had planned for them. That night they had thought Asami would probably be happier if both he and Takato were out of the way. But that didn’t mean he wished harm on them.

Perhaps he was even telling his demon friends a little white lie about “turning Akihito to the dark side” just to get them to back off and keep Akihito safe. It was hard to tell. Their relationship was rather complicated…

Especially on nights like tonight, when Asami came here in good faith and shared information like that. He told it because he was clearly concerned about Akihito’s safety but, he didn’t _have_ to go out of his way to tell Kou and Takato about Barbas. He did it because it made Akihito happy.

Or he didn’t have to sit down and have a pleasant evening with all three of them. And he didn’t have to try to form some kind of relationship or trust with the brothers. But it seemed like he was trying. And he did those things because it obviously made Akihito happy…

Maybe Takato was right. Maybe Asami had started off with ill intentions, but things got real for him once he realized they really were soul mates.

Which meant… maybe Suoh wasn’t involved in any of it. And he had a mind of his own, just as he had said and came to cook some harmless curry. Maybe Suoh had even felt bad about overhearing everything and decided not to say everything to Asami.

“Kou, you’re spacing out again. Is everything okay?” Takato interrupted his train of thought.

“Y-Yeah, I am good.. Sorry..”

“Shall we flip a coin to see which one of us should take out the trash?”

“Ughhhh. As long as you don’t cheat and use your powers like you always do!”

__________________________________________

**OMAKE 2:**

**11:55 PM, THURSDAY THE 12th**

Asami puts himself together one last time as he checks himself and his suit in the mirror in Akihito’s bedroom

He looks over at the sleeping boy. He had gone easy on him- not wanting his brothers to hear a peep. But it also always served to lull the boy to a deep sleep.

He hated having to get out of bed. But he had some important business to do, and he’d be back here soon enough in under an hour.

He sits down next to Akihito and plants one last little kiss on his lips before he blinks away to the meeting he has to attend.

He blinks. And when he arrives at his destination, Kirishima is already waiting for him in their agreed-upon spot. He has teleported to a familiar place—warehouse 33.

It's a unique place in Tokyo where the veil is thin between the two worlds. There's a portal here that takes you to the underworld. But it also happens to be a place where a certain fear demon arrives every year.

The clock strikes 12 somewhere off in the distance, and a cloud of smoke billows in the warehouse. It seeps up from the floor as if coming from below. It grows at first and is spread everywhere around the warehouse's first floor until it starts to come together and form a tall figure.Barbas, an unusually tall and lanky older looking man with salt and pepper hair, forms from the smoke.

Asami only knew of Barbas through reputation just as Barbas knew of him. They had met perhaps once or twice ages ago, but only briefly.

“Asami?” He says. He wore a black turtleneck and a long black coat.

“Barbas…”

“I’m surprised to see you…Not many demons make deals with me. They want to see me stay locked up.”

“Some demons in the underworld see your presence as a threat. Even if your bond to one place… How do you know I’m here to make a deal?” Asami asks curiously, he's slightly amused at how confident Barbas is acting.

“Isn’t that why you came?…”

“I can’t interfere with what you do. But you are hunting in my turf, and so I want something in return….” Asami points out.

“I see. I have to pay a toll for entering into this world?”

“You are in my warehouse.”

Barbas looks around. “Why not just come out with your request.”

“…I won’t interfere with your search for 13 witches,” Asami says flatly, and Barbas raises an eyebrow. “But in return…there is one - one that you _don’t touch_.”

“I see. It sounds like there is some truth to those rumors I heard about you?”

Asami doesn’t let anything show on his face. He looks at his watch. “From what I understand, you’re on a time crunch, aren’t you?”

Barbas laughs, “Ha! Right you are. But I have another suggestion. Perhaps you scratch my back. I scratch yours?” He suggests, which makes Asami groan internally in disgust.

“I’m not inclined to help you escape Barbas. You have to do that on your own…”

“Well, alright. But from what I’ve heard. Perhaps you could help me knock out at least _two_ from my list.”

Asami doesn’t answer.

Barbas continues. “You don’t know this. But along time ago. I used my power on you to see what your greatest fear was. You feared _losing_ —more than anything else. Perhaps thats why you’ve become such a powerful force in the underworld and up here on earth. You're a perfectionist to a tee. Your only goal is on winning, and you don't care about anything else. But now… Oh, Asami…I don’t need to use my powers to know that you're still afraid of losing... But this time.. you're afraid of losing something else….

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Something i am considering; 
> 
> Would it be weird if I changed the title to just Something Wicked. Its just kinda short and sweet but also maybe I shouldnt.


	24. Halloween Special: A Haunting Holiday

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 🎃🎃🎃👻👻👻
> 
> This was an EXTRA EXTRA long special holiday episode. This chapter was over 10k words, my normal chapters are less then half then that usually....  
> BUT I had so much fun writing it, so I can't even complain. even though it took some extra time to get it out.
> 
> I would say this story happens outside the main storyline, but I would also say that it happens after the events of Friday the 13th which i'll be posting the continuation of later. 
> 
> Later on I might rearrange some of the chapters so that this comes before the Friday the 13th arch i am working on just so it doesn't awkwardly cut into it.

All Hallow’s eve. Other wised known as Halloween.

It’s a time when the veil between the worlds is thinned. Magic is multiplied. And the Source of all magic can be tapped into by witches and demons alike. It’s a strange time in the Wicca world. As both the side of good and the side of evil celebrate Halloween. It doesn’t belong to any side. And both sides use this night to further their own causes.

For Akihito, it had always been his favorite holiday. Not just because his pension for a sweet tooth meant he had a perfect excuse to buy candy. But he was also a lover of all things spooky.

He loved setting up decorations. Watching scary movies! Carving pumpkins. Making pumpkin pies. Pumpkin Spice LATTES! Who doesn’t love when fall is in the air and the colors of the trees change.

Halloween in Japan is a little different than how other counties celebrate. But it’s a holiday thats growing in popularity every year. Trick or treating is non-existent, and even less so in Tokyo's major city, where everyone lives in condos.But, Japan is a country known for its co-players. Halloween will likely always have a place here in Tokyo. And so, of course, the costumes are spectacularly and extravagant.

Halloween had come up so suddenly on Akihito this year. Asami was still in hiding over the warehouse 33 incident as he would be for the weeks to come. Although, at this point, the couple had learned to live with just being secretive.

No more going to Sion and grabbing lunch together. Now they had secret rendezvous almost exclusively. Either at the manor or at Asami apartment. But mostly at Asami apartment- as Akihito didn’t want his brothers to be around.

Things had calmed down, and they had found a rhythm. Asami was still extra vigilant and careful. Although he still wasn’t sharing too much about what was happening around with his business. But Akihito had learned to just accept things _for now_ at least. Asami would likely continue to be closed off about that. But for now, Akihito was just feeling happy to be able to see him at all these days.

“An Onsen!” Akihito's voice got an octave higher as he spoke into the phone. “You want us to go on a vacation while you’re still in hiding?” He was generally confused about the man's sudden suggestion.

“Yes. But this Onsen is one of my properties. It’s up high in the mountains, so we don’t need to worry about exposure. It’ll only be for a few days. And I’m having one of our shapeshifters take a few of my meetings for me. I can literally be - in two places at once. It will be perfectly safe.” Asami points out. Using shapeshifters had become a standard security procedure. 

“I mean, it might be nice to get away for a few days... but…I don’t know how I feel about mooching off of you and one of your ' _properties_.' Can’t we just take the train up somewhere - I know a small place that no one would ever think to find you in. And we can split the cost!” Akihito is already trying to find some way to wiggle out of this.

There’s a pause on the line. “Akihito, I had a feeling you would suggest something like this….Which is why- I already took the liberty of inviting your brothers along with us. And they both agreed and are excited, so now you can’t possibly say no.”

“What?!”

Just then, the door to his bedroom opened up, and his brothers come barging in.

“Akihito!! It was really very nice of Asami to invite us to the onsen. You should check this place out- its top of the line.” Kou asks, his eyes are sparkling with excitement.

“Look at this place, Akihito! It has a mountain trail AND a world-class spa!” Takato gushes just as much, and the two brothers deposit themselves in Akihito’s bed with the brochure in hand.

“Asami said we’d all get our own room! How nice!An all-expenses-paid vacation! It’s exactly what we all need, wouldn’t you say?” Kou continues in an excited tone.

Akihito groans internally. Asami really knew how to hook the right people… and he always comes prepared…

“I guess we’re going on an onsen vacation…” Akihito replies into the phone wearily. He feels like he can just hear the smug smirk on Asami's mouth at his victory.

____________________________________________

“You have a what?!!” Akihito asked loudly.

“An airfield,” Asami replies, playing dumb.

“No! I’m talking about the airplane!! Thats what I was shocked about!” Akihito corrects him. “I didn’t know you had a private jet, you rich bastard!”

“How else did you think we were gonna get there?” Asami continues to play dumb, although a playful smile is crossing his lips.

“I don’t know. I thought we’d take a train or something and then maybe rent a car. Hell, I even thought maybe you’d do some kinda group hug or something and blink us all there! It would save a lot of money and is a greener way of traveling- y’know!”

Akihito was arguing with Asami in the limo on their way to the airfield. Kou and Takato were nearby but too engrossed in planning their hike to pay attention to the couple fighting in the back seat of the limo.

“Akihito. Do I look like a _group hug_ kind of a person?” Asami asked, raising a brow. Then in a lower voice, he continues. “Is it because you want to get there faster? Perhaps we could let your brothers take the travel accommodations I made, and I can blink us there for some _alone_ time.”

Akihito turns crimson. “Shut up! Thats not what I said. We’re taking the airplane, and thats FINAL!” It takes him a moment to realize that he’s ended the argument exactly how Asami wanted him to. Damn that Asami’s a sly one.

Soon they arrive on the airfield. Suoh will be traveling with them, as Kirishima is more or less in charge of Sion while Asami’s away. The secretary is also needed to stay with their decoy Asami.

They board the plane, Kou and Takato are gushing the entire time about how fancy the plane is. How they’ve never been on a private jet before, or a limo. For once, both of them aren’t complaining or pointing out that Asami’s a demon or their usual bout of complaints. They seem to be completely sold on what is clearly a bribed.

It’s a quick two-hour flight to a small airport northwest of Osaka. When they get out, a car is waiting for them on the tarmac, and it’s another short drive to where there Ryokan is. The town is a small town in-between Osaka bay and the Iwahashiyama mountain range.

Akihito is already mentally planning out all the perfect places to take pictures. The car pulls up to a long gated driveway to where the Ryokan is. When they pull up in the drive circle, A line of employees awaits, bowing to greet them.

“Asami-sama and guest. It’s a pleasure. Our staff will take your bags up to your rooms. You must be tired after your journey. Please, we will prepare the dining room for some tea and dinner.” A woman dressed in a traditional kimono and is obviously the hostess greets them as they exit the car.

“How about we go down in about 20 minutes? I am sure everyone wants to explore a bit,” Asami replies, and he leads the boys into the inn.

As you walked into the front entrance, a large reception desk was off to the side and then large Shoji (paper sliding doors) that led off into the huge courtyard garden.

The garden includes full-size Japanese evergreen trees and maples that grow inside the courtyard. There are large planters with huge bonsai trees. There are stone lantern structures and water basins with a bamboo dipper. A shallow human-made pool was inserted in the ground with koi fish swimming in it, and there was a half-moon wooden bridge to get across one of the sections. And even an option to walk across stepping stones.

It was a real traditional style garden and Ryokan. It was about as isolated just as Asami had said but so tranquil and beautiful. Akihito vaguely wondered how old this place was. It looked like it could be very old. He's thinking about reading up the inns history from one of those brochures Takato and Kou gave them.

All of them walked straight into the courtyard and explored. Their host points them to the other side of the courtyard and the double sliding doors on the north end where the dining room is, which is where they’ll meet up after settling in.

Then another set of staff leads Kou and Takato to the east side of the courtyard where their rooms will be, while another set leads Akihito and Asami to the west side of the courtyard where their rooms are located.

“Why are we all on different sides?” Akihito asks. He's growing suspicion about what the bedding situation is going to be like.

“We all have different suites with our own bathrooms and private onsen,” Asami explains.

“Oh. Wow….okay. So we _do_ all have our own rooms!?”

Had he sounded a little bit _too_ disappointed in hearing that news? He tries to reason with himself. This was better. How was he going to explain to the hostess or even other guests if Asami shared a room with him or they put their futons together.?It was far too scandalous. And he would be far too embarrassing if anyone found out they were actually a couple.

Speaking of other guests….

“It seems like we’re the only ones here? Where is everyone?” Akihito continued. He noticed the inn seemed a little quiet. It was prime Ryokan season, and yet they hadn’t seen another guest since they had entered.

“I own this Inn, so I booked the whole place just for us,” Asami says casually.

“What?! That crazy! A Whole Ryokan!”

“It's safer this way…” Asami answers. It was how he usually traveled.

As they get down the hallway where their rooms are, Asami is lead into suite number 4, and Akihito is lead into suite number 5 next door. His suitcase is already inside.

It’s a huge room with traditional Ryokan interiors that you might expect. The suite is a corner suite with two walls of shoji (paper sliding doors) that opens up to a wrap-around balcony that overlooks both the courtyard and the mountain range. The balcony is an enclosed balcony, behind glass, so that the inn can stay warm during the colder months.

The futon hadn’t been set up in the main room, but he figured it would be set up while they ate dinner. For now, the room was set up with a chabudai table (short-legged table) with comfortable cushions on the floor.

On the table, a neatly folded cream-colored Yukata with delicate floral embroidery is waiting for him. It’s common for inns to provide a Yukata to wear leisurely around the house or even all around town. He’ll put it on before going downstairs.

On the balcony is another seating area, but the furniture is more western. Two short-legged armchairs and a coffee table. On the interior wall, there are two doors. One leads to his private onsen. While the other door, he just assumes is his closet.

He knew they're meant to meet for some tea and snacks downstairs in 20 minutes, so he figured he’d step into the private onsen bath for a quick soak just to relax after his travels. As he’s taking off his clothing, he peers outside to the courtyard, admiring the view. He is thinking about all the places he can take photographs when the light gets better.

It’s already past their usual dinner time, and the sun had just set when they first arrived. So the courtyard is just getting dark, and the lights in the garden are getting switched on.

He was deep in thought when out of the corner of his eye, he saw something in the courtyard. He hadn’t seen it before when he had just been admiring it. It seemed to appear from nowhere, and it looked bizarre.

There was someone in the garden, there back to Akihito, as they mingled along the bridge. It’s a woman, by the looks of it. She has long black hair that went far down her back. She’s wearing a white kimono thats unusually long.

It’s not the woman that they meet earlier. Their hostess. She had a brightly colored kimono and short-cropped hair. There is something odd about this woman, something about how she looked or how she moved that makes Akihito transfixed while he stares at her.

As he looks a bit closer and leans over his balcony to get a closer look. He starts to notice her white kimono and hair look soaking wet and dripping with water. Something weirdly eerie about her presence here, and Akihito suddenly feels a gust of cold wind come through that send a chill up his spine.

Suddenly, he hears a thump, and someone grabs him by the lower back and pushes him backward.

“AH!” Akihito jumps, startled by the sudden movement, and he recoils away.

But as he looks up- It’s only Asami looking at him questioningly, and with a raised eyebrow, He had been trying to embrace Akihito to his chest.

“Y-You scared me!!”

“Are you okay?” Asami’s expression turns confused, and he looks out over the balcony to see what it was Akihito was looking at.

“Y-yeah- you just startled me is all.” Akihito looks back out too, except when he looks down at the courtyard, there's no one there. “What? Th-there was someone there?” He says, confused.

“Someone here?”

“Yeah... there was -well. I don’t know someone in the garden.” He’s starting to get a little flustered, and he puts his hand over the banister and cranes his neck to look.

Asami looks out for himself. “Hmmm. We’re supposed to be the only ones here, remember? Maybe you just saw one of the staff.” He comes up with an easy explanation.

“Ha. Yeah. Right….” Akihito willingly accepts the explanation. “Hey, wait a minute. How did you get in here?!” Suddenly realizing that Asami had somehow sneaked into his room. “Did you blink in here?”

“No. I didn’t have to. See.” He goes back inside the room and opens the screen doors which Akihito had figured was his closet. Revealing that Asami’s suite is on the other side of the door.

“These rooms are connected?!” Akihito spews, the blush already forming on his cheeks.

“Of course. It's the same over on Kou and Takato’s side. Now. Weren’t you about to use the onsen in your bathroom? Hmm.” He gives Akihito a once over, noticing his missing jacket and t-shirt. There's a mischievous glint in his eyes and a smile curling on his lip.

“OH, NO. You don’t! W-we have to go to our tea and dinner soon! We can’t!”

“What's the matter Akihito, you’ve seen me naked plenty of times. We’re _just_ taking a bath together, is all.” And he takes Akihito’s hands and guides him to the bathroom.

They ended up really only taking a bath together.

Asami only teased him endlessly by giving him bedroom eyes and making him blush. While they sit on opposite sides of the huge tube. The bathroom was like a mini spa with a showerhead for rinsing off. Some sink counters and bamboo shelves. A huge wooden tube was like the size of a hot tub. It looked out over the mountainside of the inn.

It had felt excellent to soak for about 15 minutes in the tub, but after the short soak, Akihito was already feeling like the heat was getting to him, so he got up out of the bath. They got dressed in their yukata. Asami’s is an all-black one. Then they head back downstairs to the dining room.

Kou and Takato were already there serving themself some tea while they sat on the balcony. Kou was in a dark purple yukata, and Takato was in a navy one. The table they sat in was a much grander Chabudai (short-legged table) that was intricately carved and looked like an antique.

“You guys are late. We’re starving. The hostess said she was on her way back with a full tray of sushi, just for us!” Kou interjected when he saw the couple making their way from the courtyard to the dining room.

They sat down, and as soon as they did, the food arrived. The whole dinner Kou and Takato talked about their plans for an early morning mountain hike. They invited Akihito and Asami, but both declined. Asami had some calls to take in the morning, and Akihito wanted to take some pictures of the Ryokan interior and some of the surrounding gardens. They decided to make plans to meet up for a late lunch back in the dining room.

The whole evening Akihito couldn’t get out of his mind what he had seen. Surely it must have been some other employee just walking around. But so far, he had yet to have seen anyone else in the white Kimono. And only the hostess wore a Kimono. He tried to make excuses for it, but it continued to be on his mind.

After dinner, the brothers decided to go to the Hotels Onsen for a long soak in the water. The Onsen on the ground floor was huge and outdoors. It was rocky and walled off part of the hotel. While you soaked, they had a great view of the mountainside.

It was fun to be in the water with the three of them since all they did was splash each other and fool around while they were butt-naked. It was very relaxing, and the creepy women Akihito had seen was all but melted away from his mind.

As it got a bit later, they went their separate ways. Akihito back to his room, and when he opened the door room, he found the futons were set up. That is futons -plural. Two futons that were directly next to each other, almost like one big futon.

Asami was having a smoke on the balcony, a tablet in hand, as he had let the brother have their little fun in the onsen.

“Asami! What's the meaning of this! Why are there two futons set up? I-I thought you had your own room!”

Asami carefully puts his tablet down and snuffs out his cigarette in an ashtray before answering. “Akihito… come now. We’re soulmates. We sleep together all the time? Why do you have to be so fussy about it?”

“B-because this home. This is a hotel. Don’t you think the employees are gonna look at us funny? I am too embarrassed, there gonna think-”

Asami steps in, “That were lovers? Well, aren’t we? I own this hotel, so if anyone is giving you funny looks, I’ll have them fired on the spot.”

“No, wait! Don’t fire anyone! I-I’m just. I don’t know.” He was getting flustered. This was the first time Asami had called them “lovers,” and it immediately puts a blush on his face.

Asami steps closer and sweeps Akihito up in his arms. “My sweet little witch, there’s nothing to be embarrassed about.” He scoops up Akihito's chin and admires his flushed face. “This hotel is mine. This room is mine. And your mine, remember?”

And they lock lips, instantly ending whatever battle Akihito was ready to wage. He melts into the kiss, and soon he finds his knees giving way, and Asami scoops him up and gently places him down on their futons.

Asami had felt he had been very well behaved today, and now it was time to take his prize. He finds the tie around Akihito’s Yukata and slips it easily off the boy. He releases Akihito from their kiss. He’s already all breathless and lightheaded.

The older man trails his lips down and bites down on the boy's nipples, twisting and teasing them. Print boxers were soon the only thing left on him, and Asami quickly slips them down to his ankles. And while he leaves love bits down Akihito’s neck, he wraps his digits around the hard cock and squeezes it.

“AH. No. Assammii.” The witch cries. And Asami engulfs his mouth in another breath-taking kiss. He massages the member up and down its length and kneads his thumb around the tip. The needy member starts to ooze some pre-cum.

Asami expert strokes keep Akihito on edge and drown him with pleasure. His hands wrap around the boy's backside, and he lifts one of Akihito’s legs. With his fingers already wet with pre-cum he sends two fingers inside the tight hole.

“Nhhh!” Akihito at first clenches at the sudden intrusion, and his body spasms.

“Shhh,” Asami soothes and captures his mouth once again to soothe any lingering discomfort from the penetration.

His fingers slip in and out of the boy, and after a moment of spreading him, they move with ease inside of him. So he adds a third.

At this point, Asami’s own Yukata is more or less half-off his body. Akihito’s willowy arms are locked around his neck, holding on to him for support. As he fragrantly moans into the older man's ear.

So much for being discreet.

Although Asami knows the staff is already gone for the day, he had specially ordered that just for this. He continues to finger fuck the boy while his other hand slowly pumps his cock.

Akihito’s getting close to coming, and his shallow pant and Ohs and Ah’s increase in volume.

Then Asami finds it. He already knows exactly where the little ball of nerves is. He’s enjoyed this body enough to know it by heart. But his goal, until now, had been to work on stretching him. But now that he’s ready, and he’s close to coming anyway. His three fingers hammer the sweet spot down with some force.

“AHHHHH,” Akihito cries, the beginning of tears form around his eyes. And he sprays his white cum all over his own chest.

Asami sits up and lets Akihito rest for a moment. Akihito’s chest rises and falls from his excursion, and he drops his arms to the mattress in exhaustion. He knows he feels tired in his bones, but there’s a little twitch in his nether regions, which he knows is his body asking for more of whatever the hell it was that Asami was selling. A neediness and unfulfilledness that he knows only this man can possibly ease.

“Asami…” He whines.

Asami already knows what to come, and he lifts himself off the futon slightly. He slides off the rest of his yukata, and he throws down his black boxers to the ground. His hard member stands proud as he picks up and shifts Akihito upright and on to his lap.

He presses the boys back into his firm chest. And he lowers the boy twitching hole down on his erection. He guides his tip inside and enters him fully in one swift motion. Pulling the boy down on his lap and deepening the penetration.

“AH! OH HAaaaha,” Akihito wails at the instant collision of pain and pleasure that the penetration gives him. His mouth forms an O as he cries.

And Asami kisses and sucks on his neck, letting him adjust before he starts moving. He holds the boy upright from behind, and his hands caress the boy's chest. They brush over nipples, which he cruelly twists as he starts to roll his hips and pump into the boy.

He’s going excruciatingly slow and blistering, pumping in and out of the little witch and rolling his hips into him.

“Oh. OH... Asami… Please…” Akihito whines more.

“Hmmm…What is it? What is you that you want, Akihito?”

“Mhmm, more. Please… Faster.” He begs.

Asami smirks that predatory smirk he’s known for. Without needing another invitation, he flops the boy down on all fours, and he looms over him. He has better access here so that he can ram into him with all his force. He grabs on to his hips and pulls him into every deep thrust, faster and harder than before.

“Ahhh, Ahh... Ohhhh...Asami. Asami!” Akihito cries like a raving mad man, “Asami, Asami! I-I’m Ahhh.. comming!!”

________________________________________

After a few more rounds, Asami carries an exhausted Akihito into the private bathroom. He rinses the boy off and then carries him inside the onsen to soak his ailing muscles.

Akihito’s still awake but practically delirious. He sits on Asami lap in the bath and snuggles up to his chest. He likes receiving aftercare, and he’s awake enough to enjoy soaking in the tub.

“Let's go to bed now.” He slumps into Asami's chest when he’s had enough of the water, and he yawns.

Asami chuckles and lifts him out of the water princess style. He sits him down on a counter, and then they quickly pat themselves dry. Akihito pulls out his arms wanting to be carried again to the futon.

Asami doesn’t bother turning the light back on when they re-enter the bedroom and snuggle into their futons. Akihito rolls over, seeking Asami’s warmth, and curls into him.

Asami always thought he didn’t like it when people _cuddled_ him after sex. Only Akihito could get away with doing that. He’s beginning to think he’s gotten so used to the warm body next to him that he hadn’t thought it was weird at all.

I mean a demon. _Cuddling._ It seemed so unlikely. And yet, here, Akihito was not a care in the world snuggling up to a powerful demon like he was a fluffy stuff animal.

Akihito falls asleep pretty soon afterward. And Asami usually soon afterward that. He shuffles, trying to get a more comfortable position, and he pulls Akihito a little closer when he sees it.

Asami stiffens. The sliding paper doors that lead out to the balcony are closed. And something just outside those doors…is casting a shadow that bleeds through the thin paper. A dull light in the courtyard illuminates the shadow from behind. Giving it forms against the paper doors. He doesn’t move an inch as the figure seems to be standing outside the door moves.

He shakes Akihito slightly in his arms. Mindful to be quiet and careful as he wakes the boy up.

“Huh??” Akihito, in a sleepy daze, says.

“Shhh,” Asami shushes him. He keeps his eyes on the figure outside. “Akihito. Shh. Look.” He whispers.

Sleepy eyes follow where Asami’s seems to be nudging him towards. Until his eyes land on the shadowy figure who is bobbing a head around the door as if looking for a way inside. Akihito’s eyes widen, and he jolts in Asami’s arms. But Asami holds on to him tighter.

He looks back at Asami wide-eyed and then back at the figure as if saying, what should we do.

They both sit up from bed slowly, and Asami releases his hold on Akihito. Then he springs into action. He quick, in two steps, he’s already pulling the sliding doors open. Akihito’s soon after him.

There's nothing on the other end.

The balcony is empty. The glass enclosure is still closed. No sign that anyone had been here at all.

Asami looks around. He looks back at Akihito. “Are you alright?”

“Yeah. I’m fine. What the hell was that?”

“I don’t know.” He knows the surrounding area has been all but shut down with his own men. “Someone who blinked away at the last minute?” He suggests to Akihito.

Asami picks up his phone to call Suoh, who was charged with this hotel's security for the duration of their stay. He's throwing on some boxers as he speaks into the phone.

“Someone was just here….Mhmm, on the balcony.. no breach. Check again…” He continues talking in a hurried tone.

Akihito wraps himself in his sheet and goes out to the balcony, and looks around. He had felt a cold gust of wind when he had seen the figure on the balcony, just as he had earlier today. He glances around the courtyard and the garden an-

“Asami!” He calls, and Asami quickly comes behind him.

In the garden in the same place, Akihito had seen her before is the white kimonoed woman. The two spend a moment transfixed, looking at her. She bends down by the water, seemingly picking something up, and they see water drip from her sleeve. She turns around.

Akihito gasps. Her face is blurred from a distance. But she looks unnaturally pale, her lips blue.

Asami blinks down immediately to the garden. But by the time he arrives, she’s nothing more than a gust of wind.

_____________________________________

*Knock* Knock* Knock*

Kou and Takato wake to the sound of someone knocking loudly on their doors.

“Wheres the fire?” Kou opens the door, his hair is a mess, and he’s in his boxers and a tank top. He yawns sleepily as he talks.

Then he sees that Suoh is the one knocking on his door, and suddenly he perks up, startled. He blushes instantly and looks around to see Akihito knocking on Takato's door next door.

“Takato! It’s an emergency!” He calls, trying to wake his older brother, who isn’t a light sleeper like Kou is.

Kou ignores Suoh for now and walks over to Akihito.

“What happened?” He asks.

Just then, Takato’s door shoots open, and a decidedly grumpy-looking Takato appears at the door.

What!” He spatters angrily.

“We don’t have time for this! This place is HAUNTED.”

“WHAT!” Kou and Takato speak at the same time.

“I saw a ghost earlier before dinner, and then just now. Asami and I were in bed and-” He suddenly pauses, getting embarrassed that he just admitted he was sharing a bed with Asami, and rosy cheeks build on his face. He shakes his head and continues, “Just now, there was someone on our balcony! And then it just disappeared! And then when I looked out to the courtyard, I saw this lady again. It’s a ghost I am telling you!!!” He says almost hysterically.

Kou and Takato look at each other.

“Man! I wanted a holiday away from all this Wicca stuff!!” Kou admonishes, and his shoulder slump dejectedly.

“How can you be sure it was a ghost? What if it’s someone thats out for Asami or something and their spying.” Takato asks the reasonable question.

“I have a thing about this kinda stuff, guys! It’s a ghost for sure!” Akihito touts, it was true that his powers of premonitions made him sensitive about these things.

Suoh steps in to give a better answer. “We have had this entire permitter secure for the last 24 hours in preparation for you guys coming here. It’s stayed secured. We haven’t had a breach at all. We can also know if anyone teleported in this area, and the only one that has was Asami.” He gives the same explanation he had given to Asami and Akihito earlier. There was no way anything magical or not could breach without them at least being alerted to it.

“Wait a minute, wait a minute. I thought you and your team were like the _magic busters_ or whatever? You mean to say you ‘secured’ this hotel, but you didn’t check to maybe do some kind of exorcism or something?” Kou butts in.

“We don’t run into ghosts very often... I can only think of one time. This place didn’t have any of the signs.” Suoh explains.

“Can we PLEASE stay on course? It’s a ghost! We’re the Charmed Ones! We get rid of the ghost. And once we do…we continue having a nice vacation.” Akihito, who had been sleepy before, is nothing but geared up now for some ghost busting of his own. “This isn’t our first ghost as the Charmed Ones. Now! Let’s get some clothes on. We’ll meet you in the courtyard. Suoh’s making coffee!”

It was far too early for him to this chipper about ghost hunting.

He turns on his heels and leaves after giving his orders. He completely ignores the groans he hears from both Takato and Kou as they head back into their rooms to change.

After a few minutes and a few cups of coffee, the five of them all meet in the courtyard.

“The first time I saw her was from my balcony. She was in the courtyard hangout on the bridge.” Akihito walks towards it. “Then we see someone on our balcony. But it disappears. And I see her again from my balcony. Now, I’ve seen enough horror movies to know that if she’s dripping with water, she must have like drowned or something. Maybe she’s a spirit that can’t move on. Well.. because something happened to her. Maybe even here in this little human-made pond." Akihito’s explains some of his thoughts.

“Can’t you three do some kinda- I don’t know a rhyme or whatever you witches do.” Asami sounds a bit dismissive.

“Well.. we don’t have the Book of Shadows with us here…” Akihito admits. He walks up the bridge where he had last seen the ghost. “Plus, it could be some kinda vengeful spirit, and we have to do something special, other than just some made-up spell. Perhaps we can look into so-”

Akihito touches the railing as he walks and is shocked into a premonition.

He gasps and recoils backward violently. Asami runs over to him and keeps him from falling over. It’s a particularly intense premonition.

He feels himself getting his head pushed into the water. He can feel the icy chill of the water on his skin and then the icy sting of water filling his lungs. For a moment, he is so into the premonition. He skips a few breaths. And when he comes out of it, he’s choking and coughing as if it had really been him under the water.

He coughs and shivers as he regains himself. “God!” He struggles to get out after his coughing fit.

Asami holds him upright, a worried look in his eyes. That was the first time he had seen Akihito have a premonition in person. He had only heard about its effects. And once, he watched a security video of Akihito in an elevator after he had one.

But this one was clearly ruthless, and Akihito’s shaking like crazy in his arms. Once his coughing fit goes down. The two sit down on the bridge, with Suoh, Kou, and Takato looking on, concerned.

Akihito takes a deep breath. “Sorry. That.. wow. That was really strong. I-I saw her. It must have been her. Sh-she definitely drowned in- in this pool. Someone… someone pushed her head underwater…it was like... I felt everything.” He’s so disoriented and sacred. He doesn’t realize it but tears drip down his cheek. “I-it felt so real. I felt her- her fear.”

“Suoh, start a pot of tea and get me some blankets.” Asami orders.

He picks Akihito up, princess style. The boy is shivering and feels cold to the touch. They can talk more when he’s calmed down. For now, he leads him into the main dining room. There's a fireplace nearby, and Asami throws a fireball in to start it up. He sits Akihito down and places him on his lap. He curls his arms around him, and Akihito follows suit. He places his head on Asami’s shoulder.

Kou and Takato are impressed with how carefully Asami is treating Akihito, and they hold back and let him take the lead in comforting his soulmate.

After a few moments, they go back in and check on him with the tea Suoh brought in. The color has returned from his face, and he seems much better. He still sits in Asami lap and sips on some tea.

“Sorry. Everyone. I got so excited about hunting a ghost that I forgot that premonition can be a real bummer.”

“Is there anything else you heard or saw that could be of use to us?” Takato bends down to talk to Akihito.

Akihito thinks about it for a moment. His head feels very headache, but he tries to think of any detail that might come in handy. “The water.. it was freezing, and trees around the pond were leave-less. It was…the winter maybe. I don’t know..this death...it could have happened 100 years ago we have no way of knowing.”

“Suoh..why don’t you look into the history of this place? Call Kirishima for some help too. This kinda deep dive into records is right up his alleyway." Asami orders, he’s will wrap himself around Akihito.

"Does this place have a history of any weird things happening? If we saw something, maybe other guests have too?” Akihito adds.

Suoh nodded and got up, taking his cell phone out of his pocket as he did.

“I think this is enough excitement for one day. Yeah?” Asami says he looks at Akihito and rubs his back.

“Are you kidding! I just had two cups of coffee! There is no way I could sleep now!” Akihito perks up, suddenly determined to continue despite how horrid and powerful his premonition was.

“But we aren’t gonna get any information back until probably later,” Asami adds.

“And what are the chances we see her again?” Takato chimes in.

“I’m okay. Honest! Let look around. Maybe some of these records are in the hotel. Especially things like guest reviews.” Akihito begins to stand, and Asami rolls his eyes. But he can see Akihito’s to determined to prove that he’s fine.

They all head over to the reception desk and pick up files lying around in the desk and the back office section.

After about 30 minutes, Kou finds something.

“Check this out. Two weeks ago. Some guy stayed here and said this place gives him the creeps. He mentions something about seeing something in the garden late at night.”

Soon they are finding similar reviews, either from online websites or from the hotel's own records. After about an hour, they soon find some sort of pattern.

While the hotel seems to have a reputation for being creepy that goes back years. Only in the last year have there been reports that are in line with what they’ve seen- a woman in white, hearing water dripping from their rooms, something creepy in the garden.

“It seems like the ghost sightings only really started last year. Now we have a timeline, maybe? Something happened last winter?” Takato points out.

“Sir!” The pretty timely Suoh enters, after ducking out to call Kirishima, “We don’t have any records of any kind of deaths that fit the profile. BUT last year, the former manager went missing. She’s still missing.”

“That must be it!” Akihito brightens up. “It fits too well in the timeline. Plus, if she was a manager - managers wear kimonos. Who was she?”

“All I have is a name, Chika Matsuba. One day she didn’t show up for work. We are working on getting the police report.” Suoh continues.

“And they never found anything,” Kou asked.

“Nope. The case seems to have gone cold.” Suoh continued.

“Well. Obviously, she’s not missing. She's dead. And I’m guessing since she died so horribly…maybe her spirit can’t move on…” Akihito looks at his brothers.

“Maybe we could try communicating with her? Or find out who killed her? That might help her spirit finally get to rest.” Takato puts forth. Kou and Akihito nod.

“This is all easier said than done?” Asami was trying to remain realistic.

“We’ve dealt with ghosts before that need justice, Asami. This is pretty standard ‘charmed’ stuff for us. Maybe thats why we’ve seen her, she’s trying to communicate with us. I hate to say this. But it possible that her body might be here. Hence why she can’t leave. It could be somewhere on the grounds. Some people can’t rest if their bodies aren’t properly buried, and there's an injustice.” Akihito explains.

“Yeah. Akihito’s right. We have dealt with ghosts before. She’s doesn’t seem to be a vengeful ghost- and I’m mostly just saying that because they are usually more violent. But her actions haven’t been. Maybe she’s confused or doesn’t know she’s even dead?” Takato agrees.

Akihito pauses, thinking. He gets an idea. “I know. I’ll call up the Weekly Headline. They might have more information about the case!”

He sits up, and he gets out his phone. While he makes a call, they all head towards the dining room. Suoh has offered to make them some breakfast, as it's nearing dawn.

Akihito talks to Mitarai. They have their usual banter. He agrees to do some research for 50% percent of the profits (Damn that cheap-o). He also agrees if Akihito brings back a souvenir for him. The archives at the weekly headline can get them information on what the local Osaka press was writing about her death.

As they settle into the dining room, eating what Suoh has cooked up. The three brothers brainstorm.

“This is delicious, Suoh. I should have you cook for us at home.” Akihito says, grabbing a mouthful

“Too bad, we don’t have the Book of Shadows to help us out…” Kou admonishes.

At the word, it's like three lightbulbs go off, and three sets of eyes land on Asami. “But, we do have a blinking demon!” Akihito admits.

“I see. We could take some notes from the Book. Get the supplies needed. Then come back.” Asami says flatly. He seems to be okay with the plan.

“Takato! You go with Asami,” Akihito declares.

“Huh?” Takato and Asami practically say at once.

“I need to be here. I’ve seen her twice already. Maybe she’s trying to contact me because I’m the premonition one. Plus, while you guys go, Kou and I will look around. I might have another premonition.”

“But-” Takato’s about to complain. And Asami giving him looks like daggers.

“Now I don’t wanna hear it! You two better get along!” Akihito admonishes them as if they're both teenagers. After they finish eating, he practically shoos them off, “Now run along back to the manor! Hurry up!”

“Fine….” Takato relents. They both stand and hold on to each other and then blink away.

“It will be a good bonding experience for both of them!” Akihito declares. “Kou. Suoh. Let’s look around. Let’s go back to my room, where we saw her. Maybe I’ll get something.”

The two nod and follow a determined Akihito back to his room. Akihito heads straight to the balcony and starts touching things. Hoping to get a read off of something, but he’s coming up empty.

“I’ve seen her twice from this room in particular. I wonder if there's a reason for that?” Akihito wonders out loud.

Kou looks around the room. “I don’t know a lot of the review we read, just talked about a lot of rooms having similar spooky things happen. It doesn’t have to be specific to this room. It’s about the garden, really. Since that seems like the place where she likely died.”

“Hmm. Your right. Suoh. Come over here.” He calls to the large bodyguard, who comes over to the balcony. Akihito’s looking outside. “If I were somebody who just drowned someone in the water. One. How would I get away with it? And Two. Where would I go to dispose of it?”

Suoh crosses his arm, and the three of them look down at the courtyard and koi fish pond.

“It's the offseason, maybe. If you pull someone under the water, they will still make some noises, splashes, maybe some of a struggle even. Unless you’re strong enough just to hold them down, or they are already knocked out or tied up.” Suoh suggest.

“In my premonition. My arms were flailing around. So it suggests it wasn’t that thoroughly planned, more heat of the moment kinda thing. It's the winter, maybe the hotels half empty. Still risky.” Akihito works out some things.

“Early morning, it could have gone unnoticed,” Suoh suggests.

“What if the lights were out? In the garden, I mean. Then it would be pitch black, less chance of getting seen.” Kou interrupts.

“Now there's an idea.” Suoh perks up. He's impressed with Kou’s line of thought. “Thats interesting because then it suggests someone who knows where and how to turn on the lights. Like someone who works at the hotel.”

“Yeah. But why would someone be in the garden in the dark? At night? How did they lure her there? Maybe it came from somebody who - she was gonna meet? Or who knew she would be there…” Akihito puts forwards. “Now, how did they move her, so she wasn’t discovered.”

“To the mountains? To the hiking trail, maybe they dug a hole? If we're going by the assumption that she’s still on-premises somewhere.” Kou continues with the theory. “There is a lot of gardens where one might cover up a body.”

There's a long pause as they all think it over.

“Is it possible she’s somewhere underwater?” Akihito raises his eyes to look at Suoh.

She was still dripping water, after all. Perhaps that was a clue. The pond in the courtyard is too shallow to hide a body. But this was a hot spring. There were other places outside on the grounds where a body might have been submerged.

Suoh gets out his cellphone, “The team outside will look. There are a lot of springs and other bodies of water around connecting to the hot springs. We can do a check.” Suoh walks out to make the call, leaving Kou and Akihito to think.

“I wonder if Asami and Takato have killed each other by now…” Akihito asks wearily.

“Are we taking bets?” Kou asks with a sly smile.

_____________________________________________

“Don’t give me that look- it was your soulmates idea!” Takato tries to avoid the look Asami is giving him. He sure if looks could kill….

The two were up in the attic as Takato looks for the section on ghosts. He has a little note pad to take the important details.

“I just don’t appreciate being treated like a taxi service…” Asami comes up closer to the Book of Shadows. He has a thought suddenly while looking at the book. 

“That was your soulmate, not me.” Takato reminds him.

“Would you mind if I try something…” Asami ignores what Takato had just said, and he eyes the book.

Takato nods but looks at him funny. What was he doing?

Asami hadn’t ever tried it before. The Book of Shadows had a reputation that evil could not touch it. He didn’t really ever want to press his luck. So he had never tried it. He also wasn’t really sure if he’d like the outcome of it. So he especially never tried it when Akihito was around. But since no one was here….

…Well, Takato was here, but like he said… No one was here.

He outstretched his hand, slowly and carefully. Takato was confused about what he was trying to do. But as he got nearer and nearer, nothing happened. When he finally is about to land on it - the book jumps away on its own and falls on the ground and off its pedestal.

Asami scoffs, slightly annoyed at it. He was expecting to get zapped, so this was a bit better, but still… “Finicky little thing isn’t it.”

“What are you doing? You know the Book of Shadows can’t be touched by demons. I have important notes to take. Why don’t you go downstairs to the kitchen and get me these ingredients from the pantry.” Takato puts his hands on his hips and picks up the book. The little note he was making, he passes to Asami, and he’ll write down the spell section on another piece.

Divide and conquer. It would make things fast. And Takato wouldn't have to spend too much time with Asami.

When they finish their task, they blink back to the Ryokan courtyard. To find that it’s pitch black in the garden.

“Akihito?” Asami calls. What was up with the lights? He feels like something must be wrong, and the fireball in his hand emerges almost on instinct. “Akihito! Suoh?” He calls again.

Takato next to him is just as alert. They think they shouldn’t have left them all here. They had only assumed the ghost was not a vengeful one. One that wouldn't them or hurt them. But that doesn’t mean that it won’t.

Suddenly they hear what sounds like a window opening.

“Hey, guys!” Akihito calls from his enclosed balcony, “We were experimenting with the lights. To see if you could see anything in the garden. The answer is- you can’t!” He yells from his spot.

Asami rolls his eyes.

They hear another window open, and Kou yells down at them, “Quick, Takato, push Asami under the water and see if we can hear the struggle so that we can be extra sure!” Kou jokingly yells down at them

“Noo,” Akihito says.

Asami and Takato share a glance. Asami’s face basically says, don’t you dare.

“I have a better idea. Why don’t we do a seance, with the supplies we got at the manor?” Takato yells back up to his brothers.

Joking aside. They all meet up in the dining room downstairs. It’s really late now, almost dawn. And while they make preparations for their seance, Akihito and Kou explain what happened while Asami and Takato were gone.

Akihito received a phone call from Mitarai. Mitarai report came in faster than the police report, which Kirishima couldn’t get until tomorrow.

Mirtarai described Chika Matsuba as a local young girl who had a bit of a problem with local men in the town. But she worked at the local and prestigious Ryokan and was known to be a very diligent and hard-working girl, despite her supposed personal problems. She was the youngest hostess the Ryokan ever had, and there were reports that she might have been sleeping with the head manager to get the job.

After three years of working here, she suddenly didn’t show up for work last year in February. The rumor around town was that she had been friendly with some of the hotels guest, including some rich men. And they believed she left with one of them, whom she was having an affair with.

The police ended the investigation. But apparently, the journalist from the local newspaper who was writing the story was not convinced. Since they apparently knew each other in life. Some locals put up a stink, saying it sounded very suspicious, but police closed the investigation anyway. And it was rumored, it was because the hotel's prestigious guest might be dragged into a seedy investigation.

“When this is all over, this would make for a great story in the Weekly Headline!” Akihito excitedly touts. “Obviously I’ll cut out all out our experiences… but good thing I brought my good camera on this trip. HEY! If we find the body- Do you think I could tak-”

“No!” Asami and Suoh speak at the same time, cutting Akihito off before he could finish that request.

For the seance, they needed six candles. 3 white and 3 purple candles. A table cloth over the table, and they needed to burn some cinnamon, frankincense, and sandalwood. Which had all been in the manors pantry.

They sat around the table and held hands before they spoke the spell. “Beloved Chika. We seek your guidance. We ask that you commune with us and move among us.”

For a moment, they all sit in silence. Looking around. But nothing happens.

“Should we do it again?” Kou asks.

Just as the words come out of his mouth, the candles are blown out by a gust of wind. Akihito’s head peaks up, and eyes widen because right at the shoji doors is white kimonoed women. She’s even more terrifying up close and personal. Akihito blood runs cold, and he squeezes Asami’s hand next to him.

The rest of the group turn and recoil when they see her. Kou gasps. Takato is the only brother brave enough to speak.

“Chika? Chika Matsuba?” Takato asks her.

The women's head tilts, water appears to be dripping from her mouth.

“Chika, My name is Akihito. We want to help you. We want to help you move on. Can you help us? We can help you get justice.” Akihito finally bucks up and speaks to the ghost. His voice is warm and kind. “Can you tell us what happened, Chika?

________________________________________

Dawn had come.

And so to do the police.

They cart away the new hostess of the Ryokan. Yumi Shimizu. The pretty girl in the colorful Kimono and the cropped hair that Akihito had thought was so pleasant.

She had done the deed after Chika got promoted. She had felt she had deserved it more.

She knew Chika often met with men in the courtyard when it suited her. So she left a note for Chika to set up a secret rendezvous. She had turned off the lights in the garden and whacked her over the side to stun her and then dunked her head in the fish pond.

Kirishima came in handy and told the group that at around the time of her disappearance, there was some construction going on by the Onsen. In the old fashion sewers that were built underground. Chika’s attacker thought her body would be washed away to Osaka bay, but it never was.

Suoh and his men found evidence of her remains still under the house. And the police were currently digging up the rest. 

For a while, they didn’t have the evidence they needed to prove it was Yumi Shimizu. But they had an idea for that.

______________________________________________

Yumi Shimizu came to work early every day. She was particular. She actually loved her job very much. It was the only thing she had.

As she walks into the hotel, she immediately notices the lights appear to be dead. Odd.

The guests were so particular. Nobody had ever booked out the entire Ryokan before.

Clearly, the owner of the hotel was a very important person, Yumi thinks to herself. His impressive team of security was proof enough of that. Which is why she finds it a little odd that the light appears to be dead, but nobody notified any of the inn's staff about it. They all must still be asleep. Which meant she had time to correct the problem before it went noticed.

Perhaps the lights going dead was the work of those three young men, who looked like teenagers, that were traveling with the great Asami Ryuichi.

Asami had never come to this Ryokan before, and she had never seen her manager seem so uptight about his arrival here. But she had been looking forward to his arrival. He was a handsome bachelor after all and richer than god too!

She starts to pout, thinking about the lights going off. She had to fix that before her guest woke up. Everything had to perfect. She wanted to impress Asami. She goes through the courtyard, since on the other side, in the dining room, is where the switch is. Hopefully, it’s just a quick fix. She thinks to herself.

Having Asami here had obviously made her think about her whore of a co-worker. Or rather, her _former_ co-worker. If Chika were still here, she would have been all over Asami, just begging for attention.

But since she was gone. Yumi had a whole 3 days of opportunities to show how skilled, clever, and pretty she was to Asami. And he would obviously slowly fall for _her_.

While she's walking towards the dining room, the lights in the garden begin to flicker. She only groans internally, thinking there must be something wrong, and it won't be an easy fix.

Since it’s so dark, she’s keeping her eyes to the ground until she hears something that sounds like groaning. She perks her head up and looks around. Then she hears a branch breaking somewhere behind her, and she twists her head around.

Yumi screams. The ghost is directly behind her, with her dead eyes and blue lips. She appears to be glowing.

“Yoooouuuu.” The ghost says in a bone-chilling voice, and Yumi screams again. “You did this!!”

Yum runs in the opposite direction, she tripping over herself, but she screams again and runs towards the dining room. Things around her start moving. Some rocks that had been on the ground nearly hit her and sweep by her face. As she desperately makes her way to the dining room, the sliding doors move on their own and slam in her face.

She’s hyperventilating now, and she turns around, thinking she’s made some distance from the ghost. But when she turns around, it's right in her face again. A force throws her backward to the ground below.

When she scuttles back on her feet and tries to open the door to the dining room, they won’t budge. Something wet and red gets on her hand, and when she looks up at the door. She sees the doors are painted red when they weren’t before. The words “confess!” in horribly scribbled on them.

“Oh, god! Oh god! LEAVE ME ALONE!” She yells at the ghost, but the ghost only just looks down at her.

Many different voices around the courtyard reach her ears, “CONFESS!”, “Confess!” “You must confess!” They say.

She's jerked around by a pair of hands, and she’s paralyzed with fear. A hooded figure with glowing golden eyes speaks to her in a low baritone voice, “Or you’ll be going to HELL, with me!” It says in a wicked voice.

Her knees go weak, and she falls over. The hooded figure is gone by the time she blinks.

Her heart is racing. But when she finally opens her eyes.

The lights are on in the garden. There’s no ghost or voices—only her.

Yumi looks over to the doors to the dining hall, they are closed, but the words “confess” are no longer written on them, as they were just a minute ago.

She speed walks away, looking over her shoulder the whole time.

She calls the police and confesses within 10 mins.

___________________________________

“Did you see her face!” Akihito laughs when it's all over. “I knew it would work! Ghosts are terrifying.”

“It was a pretty clever ruse…” Asami had to admit. This was probably the easiest and painless thing, even if he had to wear a silly cloak.

“Hey, y'know. I was the one that froze time and everything so we could paint the doors and then clean them off with a power wash. That part was my idea.” Kou wants to take some credit.

“Are you kidding? I had to throw things past her all the time, and I had to close the doors dramatically AND make her fall down. I had the most things to do…” Takato also wants some credit for his work.

“Yeah yeah, okay guys, it was a team effort, okay. The point is. We got a murderer to confess, and we got justice for a family that deserved it. AND we did it all in one night. So now we can go back to enjoying our little holiday. Wicca free!” Akihito compromises.

“Right. I’m going back to bed now.” Kou says, and he turns on his heels, obviously exhausted.

“Ugh. Me too!!” Takato follows after him. “Good work today Akihito…”

Akihito watches his brothers depart and turns to Asami. "You know, Asami. We work Pretty well, sometimes.." he grins. 

Asami chuckles.

“We should go to bed soon too…” Akihito says sleepily.

“Soon…?” Asami raises an eyebrow.

_____________________________________________

**Omake:**

Asami leaves the bedroom and heads back into his side of the hotel suite. Akihito is dead to the world, and it's only about 11 o'clock. He closes the door carefully behind him.

He takes a call that he had been expecting to take since yesterday, so there was no missing it despite how he had stayed up all night.

He sits down on the balcony chairs. Suoh enters, serving him a cup of tea, and he stands nearby as the meeting commences.

About 20 minutes into the call, which Asami is only listening in and taking a few notes for the most part. Until it’s finally his turn.

“It is true, our Ryokan outside of Osaka did see a small decline in profits in the last year or so. And rumors about ghosts have been greatly exaggerated. However, I can see profit in such stories as this. Lots of people, especially our new target demographic - young people. Live for those kinds of ghost stories and hauntings. We are working on a new marketing idea, where we host a ghost-themed tour. It will give us an uptickof visitors in the fall, around Halloween and then again during the summer Obon Holiday (Buddhist holiday honoring the spirits of ancestors)”

He waits a moment as someone on the call makes some points.

“Yes, yes, we heard about those _accidents_ ….purely accidentally. I can _assure_ you they won’t be happening again. We’ve had some _recent_ staff change as well. I will warn you that I have received word as of this morning that the hotel is going to have a huge story written about its ‘dark history.’ But I believe it will be easily spin able. We could turn it to our favor,connect it with our haunted theme. I can assure you the article will highlight the natural beauty and the amenities offered here. I think it will make a riveting little review that will surely bring the costumers pouring in.”

He nods a few times and makes a few other pointers. “Mhm. Mhm. Yes. Glad to be doing business with you. Kirishima will send you the details of our agreement. It’s been a pleasure.” He hangs up.

He puts his phone down and picks up his tea.

“That was pretty clever of you to get the Charmed Ones to get rid of that pesky ghost problem.” Suoh is impressed with his boss, and he nods approvingly.

“I mean, we were out of options. We already tried everything…and I suppose good magic has its uses…” He takes a sip of his coffee and admires the view.

“And Akihito had a blast, I think too…” The crime lord smirks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NO i did NOT get inspiration for this chapter from a nancy drew video game I played when I was in high school! DO NOT call me out on that. 👻👻
> 
> This was the real seance spell and ingredients from the book of shadows.


	25. Chapter 25

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This was a total coincidence but this Friday is actually going to be Friday the 13th. LOL🤣 I honestly didn't even know!! how cute. So this episode really came out perfect timing.
> 
> Enjoy 💕💕 25 chapters 😭😭😭🥳🥳🥳
> 
> Stay safe out there everyone 😷

Akihito awakes the next morning, cozy and warmly curled up in the older man's arms.

He smiles a bit. He had to admit it was amusing having Asami here. It had made him feel very naughty, having his lover sleepover in his childhood room. But there was also something refreshing about having Asami here.

Asami had an air about him that he was uptight and stern. Although Akihito was starting to understand that was just the mask he wore for the sake of his job, for the sake of his reputation, for what it meant to be a demon.

Underneath that think skin, if you were clever enough to pierce through it, there was someone else underneath it all. Someone…hopeful.

Yes. Hopeful seemed a good word… Someone who played being cynical and cruel, but secretly wished for more and better. And dare he say even a bit of a hopeless romantic.

He could be boyish and playful at times- when it suited him. And then he'd be just as relentless and confident.

Very rarely did Akihito get to see the _genuine_ Asami.

But it was at times like these when sometimes it came out just a little bit. When the three-piece suit had been stripped off and the domineering cocky attitude along with it. When his hair was down, after washing it, and you might even say he looked a bit domestic looking.

Here in the manor, he looked so out of place in his three-piece suit. But where he was now, curled up in a smaller double mattress in Akihito humble little room with plaid sheets covering him. He looked like he easily fit in.

For a moment, as Akihito looked at the sleeping man. He vaguely let his mind wander over a little silly thought- What if Asami lived with him in the manor? It almost seemed impossible. There were too many complications that Asami would never agree to.

Living with all the brothers would be too difficult. He imagined the battles that would ensue over the shower on the main floor bathroom, battles that frankly Asami would lose. Or what about the lack of privacy and the thin walls that would drive everyone crazy. Or where in the world would all his suits go? Other silly things like that. Their little humble abode was just in such contrast to Asami’s luxury condo. That it was hard to picture the man _actually_ choosing to live here.

But there were some other imaginary scenarios Akihito was mindful of that made him hopeful. Like breezy mornings like this when it was just the two of them. Having breakfast in bed. Cozy nights by the fireplace. Family dinners with all of them together, like they had last night. Perhaps those little imaginary scenarios would be worth all the other fuss.

Akihito sighed. It seemed like it was all too far away to hope for. When he looks back up, the golden-eyed demon is looking down at him curiously.

“What were you just thinking now?” He asks.

“Oh, nothing…” Akihito regains himself. “I was just thinking that…yesterday we were all getting along so well at dinner. I thought it was nice….It’s..it’s kinda nice to see you here, is all.”

Asami’s hands sweep down his back. His gold eyes turn a bit downcast. However, Akihito doesn’t notice it. “Yeah…You’re right.”

“I even thought Takato seemed more open to the idea of having you around..” Akihito jokes.

“Hmmm. Surprising.” he responds flatly.

“Can you stay for breakfast?” Akihito asks, hooking his arms around Asami’s.

Asami takes a moment to answer, “I’m afraid I don’t think I will…I rather not outstay my welcome,” Asami says playfully.

“Don’t be silly!” Akihito admonishes.

“No, no, I’ve also got to be at work, so it's fine. But remember Barbas today. Don’t take any risks. I’m only a phone call away.”

“Alright, Alright. I understand. But…can we stay here like this for a bit longer…” Akihito nudges his head under Asami’s and buries himself in the man's neckline.

Asami chuckles. “Yes, my cute little witch. We can stay here for a bit longer.” He kisses the top of his head and wraps his arms around him for a bit longer.

_________________________________________________

“AHHHHHHHHH” Shoko, a witch living in Yokohama, screams her head off.

Her fear of being crushed to death is slowly coming to fruition. However, it is mostly in her own imagination. It's the work and the tricks of a cruel demon. One that savors in the fear of his victims.

Poor Shoko. She was a young witch, a member of a coven based in Tokyo that became the target of Barbas hunting. His third victim since arriving at midnight.

Her long black hair is already going white with her fear, and death will come soon.

When he’s done with his wicked work, he decided to look around her ruined apartment for anything more about this witch and her coven. He needs to seek 10 more witches if he wishes to be free of his shackles. But as he looks around, and his search bears nothing. 

Shoko might have been in a coven, but she had dropped out of communication with her coven- which was partially why she was left undefended now. But a lone witch means his search for more of them has now lead him to a dead-end, and he has to start the search again.

But he scoffs. He knew very well there were _three_ witches somewhere out here in Tokyo. Three witches that he could get to…

He wasn’t afraid of Asami threats. Even Asami can’t kill an immortal demon thats immune to any attack. He had to find the Charmed Ones because if he managed to kill all three of them, their power would be enough to release him from his shackles.

And once he was free, Asami would be helpless to stop him.

He would go after all three witches, no matter what Asami had said.

It was only a matter of finding them…

___________________________________________

Kou looks despondently at his phone. Why oh why had Souh texted him out of the blue?

They hadn’t contacted each other since the other day. And he was kind of hoping to just keep it, that why. But the way that Suoh was texting him now made him think that something was up.

 _Kou. I need to speak to you right away. Please hear me out? Meet me at Sion for lunch._ Is what the message had read, it seemed kind of an unusual message to receive.

Should he ghost him? He was seriously considering it… but the problem was. This was one of Asami’s men. And Asami was not going anywhere… and so neither was this guy.

Maybe he just wanted to apologize or clear the air? Asami hadn’t made any mention of the conversation that Suoh had overheard. Perhaps Kou had rushed to judgment.

Just because he had come to make curry that one time… and acted friendly didn’t mean he was there on behalf of Asami. Nor did it mean that there was even anything between them.

He had just assumed…UGH, what had he assumed. That - that Suoh was flirting??

But maybe he was just nice. And it was Kou who was wrong, and he just blew up at him for no reason.

Suoh was clearly a good guy, and it would be wrong to ghost him…So he sends back a quick 'Okay', back to him.

He only vaguely thinks it’s a little strange that Suoh invited him to the Sion.

And he only vaguely notes upon the fact that he had told everyone the night before that he would stay away from any tall buildings on today, of all days, when Barbas was lurking around. But, it was Suoh he was talking about and that meant - safety in Kou's mind.

He sighs and heads there anyway.

_____________________________________________

Akihito was at a stakeout when he got a strange voicemail from Kou.

Kou sounded a little strange like the connection was bad. But he said something like everyone was trying to reach him and that he better come to Sion right away.

He was on his stakeout with Mitarai. He had taken the precautions about Barbas serious and decided it wouldn’t be a good idea to be alone today. So he, unfortunately, had to do a stakeout with someone he rather didn’t have to.

“Are we in a bad connection zone right now, Mitarai?” He asks.

“Not particularly?” He answers, sipping from a straw from one of the cheap drinks they had gotten together. “Why, what's up?”

“Umm. Sorry, it's my brother. Somethings wrong, I think. Would you mind driving me?” Akihito says warily. He was feeling nervous. He wanted to call Asami and just blink home right away. But he’s stuck here with Mitarai.

“Ugh, man, what if we miss something.”

“Please! I think it's an emergency! I need you to take me to Sion!”

“Sion? Why?”

“Please! Mitarai, I’ll explain later just, please, step on it!”

Mitarai seems to understand the sudden urgency, so he steps on it.

_____________________________________________________

Takato's boring day job was making him yawn. Well, also because he hadn’t slept much last night. Because of all those horrible noises coming from Akihito’s bedroom. They’d have to talk about thin walls and such….

Takato shudders a bit. Last night was a little TMI if y’know what I mean. Too much information, then he never wanted to know about his BROTHERS sex life. He was sure Kou would say something about it too- But actually, Kou sleeps like a rock, so maybe not.

He was too modified this morning when Aki came down all bright-faced and clear-eyed, after a night of whatever the heck that was, for Takato to ruin his clear happiness. But he would have to be frank and tell him that he _never_ and I mean _ever_ wanted to hear those noises ever again. Those two love birds would have to take that kinda stuff ELSE where.

It was actually pretty much the norm in this house that sex was difficult with such thin walls. Even he and Rinko had that problem - although he didn’t think they sounded like THAT.

Ugh…Takato rubs his eyes. He checks the time. It was noon past already, and so he wanted to have his lunch break.

The tiredness was perhaps making him loosen his guard, and so as he gets up, he doesn’t think twice about how he had said he would “take the stairs’. The bank he works at was only a fourth-floor building, nothing scary about going down an elevator a few flights below. He was far too sleepy to even think about taking the stairs.

So when he pushes the button to the elevator, he'll takes it down to the first floor to go out and grab lunch at one of the food stalls outside like he normally does. He doesn’t think anything of it.

The elevator doors ding open, and he climbs aboard. He quickly picks the button for the 1st floor. It didn’t seem that unusual that he was alone in the elevator, even though it was the lunch rush time.

After the doors close, there a pause, and the cabin doesn’t go down right away. Then on a dime, the elevator shaft lurches downward at incredible speed- it free falls down the elevator shaft. It’s as if it's free-falling down a much longer elevator shaft than just four floors- as if it's falling from a 50 story building.

Gravity works against him, and Takato is thrown to the roof of the cabin. He screams at the top of his lungs. It like being pushed down and up at the same time. He was quick enough to grab the elevator railing, but it’s slipping out of his hands.

When the elevator suddenly comes to a crashing halt, and he’s sent straight to the floor. Nose-first. His nose thankful doesn’t break at the impact, but it certainly feels like it has, and it starts to bleed a lot. He groans and sees the black shoes standing over him.

“Elevators…a very specific fear, wouldn’t you say?” Barbas starts. “It came from when you were five years old. You got separated from your mother on an elevator. You didn’t get out in time, as the doors closed on you. You were with your baby brother…and well- you had to be the responsible one. The big brother for your baby brother, Kou. Even though you were just as terrified as he was. He wailed. But you. Well, you had to stay strong. It was just a measly five minute that you were separated, but it was absolutely terrifying, wasn’t it?” Barbas says as he stands over Takato.

“Barbas?” Takato replies wearily. He’s already trembling and grabbing hold of his bloodstained nose.

“You remembered it all, didn’t you? But Kou was too young, so those memories went away…Takato…Shall we go for another ride?” Barbas says tauntingly.

And with a snap of his fingers, the elevator goes barreling downwards again. Only Takato is propelled again to the ceiling, while Barbas is glued to the floor. Again Takato screams his lungs out as the elevators free falls for what feels like dozens upon dozens of floors.

The elevator stops once again abruptly, and he comes crashing down. This time, though, he can shield his face from the brunt of the damage- although he falls to the ground with a thud.

“Thats right…you know this fear of elevators. It really originates from a fear over confined places. Is that what it feels like? Like the walls are - closing in,” A smirk twist cruelly on Barbas's face.

Just as he says the words, it really is as if the walls shrink around him, and Takato’s breathe hitches.

Fear like no other creeps into him. He’s starting to feel paralyzed by it. He can’t even use his powers right now or stop the trembling and his labored- almost hyperventilating breath.

Barbas laughs. “A tough one, I can see. Those are always the more satisfying to feed off of.”

Takato’s never felt so helpless to do anything.

________________________________________________________

When Akihito arrives at Sion, he quickly shuffles into the building. He’s sensing that something is not right, and he feels a heavy pit in his stomach.

He’s known at Sion, so he is simply waved through security without any problems. He goes over to wait for the elevator- no using Asami's elevator without a passcode. But as he touches the button, he is rocked with an intense premonition.

His body clenches up, and he shudders as the premonition rocks him. He sees Takato lifting his head up to Barbas, who’s standing over him in the elevator. He sees his bloodied nose, and Takato screaming as the elevator goes into free fall. Then the scene changes, and he’s following Kou through Sion. He’s just passed a door that says balcony access for floor number 29. And Barbas is waiting for him in the shadows.

 _OH! God._ Akihiot gasps when he gets out of his preminition.

He frantically starts pushing the elevator button. People around him who are also waiting at the elevator queue up, they look at him strangely, but he doesn’t give a damn. His hands are trembling as he goes to dig his phone out of his pocket.

Asami words from earlier should be ringing in his ears- he’s only a phone call away. But he can’t think of that right now. He has to call Takato. Did this vision already happen? Did Barbas get to Takato and is going after Kou now? Was… Takato already lost.

He knows he must look like a crazy person, and the color is draining from his face. But he jumps into the elevator and frantically pushes the button for the 29th floor. The phone in his ear is just ringing and ringing, and he calls Takato’s number again.

_Come on, pick up!_

He had thought he had said that to himself but, he had apparently said it out loud. The people in the elevator look at him oddly as he yells into the phone. They were lucky he wasn’t cursing at how slow this elevator was going.

The 29th floor finally comes up, and he dashes out of there and into the hallway. He puts his phone away. He can’t be worrying about Takato right now- Kou is here and in immediate danger. He has to remain hopeful that Takato is alright, but he has to get to Kou first.

There’s no one around this floor as he exits, and he frantically starts looking for the balcony access. He dashes around a corners and he finds the door, he saw Kou going towards. He flat out runs to it and pushes it open.

As he steps out on the roof, he immediately sees Kou’s black hair blowing in the wind. He sprints over to him, but he sees what kind of position he is in as he nears.

“KOU! KOU! DON’T MOVE!” He yells out to him.

Kou is dangling on to the Sion sign right off the edge of the building, his arms wrapped around the top part of the ‘I’ in Sion.His back is to Akihito, and he seems to be staring down at the depths below. Akihito runs towards the edge where the railing is. 

Before he can get to the railing he suddenly feels a presence behind him. Barbas appears.

“Oh, good. I’m so glad you got the invitation!” The demon says.

“Kou, come over here and grab my hand!” Akihito says although his voice is shaking, and he does his best to avoid looking at Barbas. He's not close enough to the railing to be of any help. 

He reaches out his hand for his brother, although Kou is looking down at the ground in horror and hasn’t even acknowledged his brother's presence. Fear is gripping him. Paralyzing him. He can’t seem to focus on the world around him- only the intense fear of the height.

Barbas pushes Akihito back so that he can’t interfere with Kou.

“Oh, Akihito. I am so glad you could make it. Two birds, one stone -it's such a fitting way to end things, isn’t it.”

Akihito tries to pass Barbas, “Let go of me!” He tries desperately to get to Kou, but Barbas holds him back.

“No. No. I can’t have you interrupting…And here you thought your fear was something as trivial and silly as sharks and oceans. But you don’t really know your self do you, Akihito… Of course, your greatest fear is losing your brothers.”

“NO! No, let go of me!” Akihito struggles in the man's iron grip. “KOU STOP. Don’t look down!!” He tries, although he can feel the horror and fear spreading throughout him. Paralyzing his natural inclination to fight.

“It’s already too late for your other brother…” Barbas says easily.

Akihito’s heart sinks even deeper in his chest. His blood runs icy cold, and he can feel the hot tears fall quickly down his cheek. “Y-your…lying,” he pathetically mewls between sobs.

“But I’m not. I know your premonition saw what I did to him in the elevator. It’s eating you up inside. Now watch as your other brother shares the same fate!” He pushes his face upward, so he’s forced to look at Kou.

_____________________________________________

Asami was in a meeting that was running long.

But he was hardly paying attention. All he could think about was Barbas's remarks from last night.

 _“From what I’ve heard. Perhaps you could help me knock out at least two from my list”_ Barbas had sounded so confident then.

But what did he know, the older man had been locked in hell his whole life. How dare he assume to know anything? How dare he even suggest that Asami couldn’t simply kill two witches with easy if he wanted to.

But then there was the obvious….So then why hadn’t he done it already?

Especially if he received such underhanded criticism from annoyance like Barbas and all the rest of the demon cohorts who were now questioning his loyalty and commitment to the cause.

When Barbas had said that, he wanted to wipe that smugness off Barbas's face. But what he said next. Well, that was really making him see red.

_“I don’t need to use my powers to know your still afraid of losing…But this time…you’re afraid of losing something else…”_

Oh Shut up.

Barbas was a useless lout, whose only power was trickery. He was a skinny sniveling little demon, who may be immortal and immune to attacks, but utterly worthless and unable to fight for himself.

At the time Asami had played it cool at the warehouse, told him to PISS off.

“Get your thirteen witches, but you stay away from the Charmed Ones. _They’re Mine._ ” He had growled at him.

But he still wasn’t sure if he had said it because the Charmed Ones were his to kill if he so chooses. Or if he was saying it because they were his to protect and secure…

He was starting not to trust what Barbas would do, even though he let him hunt in his own territory. There were certain rules demon followed. Barbas was on his territory. He would be infringing upon _his_ prize and his plans.

Any demon with modicum of self-respect wouldn’t interfere in other demons pray. It’s just how it was. But Barbas…well, Barbas was about as dirty as they get.

He was so preoccupied with his own thoughts that when Kirishima suddenly appeared next to him and whispered in his ear, he was taken aback.

“There’s a security breach, sir. We need to leave.” Kirishima whispered.

Asami knew right then that it was Barbas and that Akihito and the brothers must be in trouble. He sat up promptly and excused himself from the meeting. They quickly headed to the elevator. Not until the doors were closed did Kirishima tell him what it was all about.

“Sir. The Charmed Ones are on the move. Kou arrived here about 5 minutes ago, and we’re not sure why. And Takato disappeared from work without a trace around the same time. And the team thats with Akihito says he seems to be heading in this direction, although they’re not sure why.”

“I want eyes on Akihito, now! If they lose track of him!” Anger rose out of him quickly. “How could they have lost Takato? Check the house! And- and why the hell is Kou here?” Asami barks out his orders.

Just as he finishes, the elevator door opens up, and Suoh appears on the other side.

“Sir, I might be able to explain why Kou is here… I received a message from him about 10 minutes ago. It simply said, ‘Okay.’ I thought it was just a mistake since we haven’t been in contact. I can’t get through to him, but he seems to be in the building somewhere- we are getting our men on the CCTV to find him.”

“Dammit. Barbas must have lured them here. Kou’s suppose to be staying away from tall buildings. Find him!” Asami steps out of the elevator towards his office.

He’s getting so huffy. What was the point of warning them about Barbas if they were gonna do crazy things like this all on their own?

“Asami-sama, that was the front desk Akihito’s arrived downstairs.” Kirishima updates

“Tell them to follow him on the cameras! And why haven’t they found Kou yet!”

It feels like an eternity as they wait to hear back.

“Sir, Akihito’s on the 29th floor.”

_The balcony access!_

It’s like the three of them have the same thought. Asami doesn’t wait another moment longer, and he blinks down to the 29th-floor balcony.

He sees Barbas hold Akihito away from the railing and Kou gripping on to the Sion sign.

Asami hasn’t been noticed yet, and he hears Barbas speaking to Akihito.

“No. No. I can’t have you interrupting…And here you thought your fear was something as trivial and silly as sharks and oceans. But you don’t really know your self do you, Akihito… Of course, your greatest fear is losing your brothers.”

Asami freeze. 

_…Akihito's true fear is to lose his brothers…_

It stings for Asami to hear that. Knowing that his own fear was to lose Akihito. While Akihito doesn’t even share that fear… That he fears more for the lives of his brothers than his soulmate. The sting of jealousy has him hesitating to interfere…

“NO! No, let go of me!” Akihito struggles and yells. “KOU STOP. Don’t look down!!”

“It’s already too late for your other brother…” Barbas continues.

_Takato? Takato is dead…_

“Y-you…lying,” Akihito splatters out, and he tries to escape. His hazel eyes are fixated on Kou.

Isn’t this Asami opportunity to play this right, to achieve his goals. Takato could be dead already, and Kou's about to fall to his death. He can come in at the right moment and play the hero, but be tragically too late, for Kou and Takato. He could keep Akihito all to himself. No more Charmed One’s in the way and no demon would ever question him ever again. He could solidify his power.

Isn’t it all he’s ever wanted…

_Isn’t it….?_

Barbas continues. “But I’m not. I know your premonition saw what I did to him in the elevator. It’s eating you up inside. The three of you will be enough to break my chains. Now watch as your other brother shares the same fate!”

But…It’s not what he truly wants…and he knows that now.

“He’s lying, Akihito. Takato alive.” Asami is finally broken out of his hesitation. He yells across to them and steps towards the two. Barbas and Akihito turn their attention to him.

Asami doesn’t really know if what he is saying right now is the truth or not. Although he does know that it's what Akihito needs to hear right now. In the back of his mind, Asami knows it’s not like Barbas to clean up his kills. If Takato were truly dead, they would have found a body. His disappearance from his office could only suggest one thing- an intervention from a certain guardian angel with orbing powers.

Akihito’s stops struggling when he sees Asami. It’s like a breath of relief fills his lungs when he sees the older man “…Asami.”

“Akihito. The only way to stop him is for you to face your fears! You trust me, don’t you?” He inches his way closer. He nods affirmatively at Akihito.

Akihito’s lips trembles when he answers. “Y-yes.”

“Then you have _nothing_ to fear.”

Akihito’s eyes widen as he hears the words. That fiery flicker Asami knows too well returns, and he quickly turns around to Barbas and twists his arms away, and pushes him away.

The bonds of fear don’t hold him back anymore. He runs straight for his brother.

“NO! How did-??! But your fears?!” Barbas's face twist in disbelief.

“It’s over, Barbas!” Asami makes clear. 

“NOO!!!!” He screams, he goes red in the face. Unnaturally red.

In fact, his whole body is red because he’s imploding from the inside. Vanquished. And he burst into a red cloud, and the ashes fall to the ground below. Back to hell where he belongs.

Just then, the door to the balcony kicks in, and a swarm of Asami’s men floods the balcony in tactical gear. Suoh is leading the charge of the anti-magic squad. Suoh goes straight for Kou. While the other flank around Asami and encircle the ashes of Barbas.

Akihito is already desperately reaching for Kou, who’s still pretty despondent. But the spell that Barbas had on him is slowly withering away, and now he’s just regular terrified and confused.

“OMG!” His hold on the sign gets tighter, and he finally acknowledges that Akihito is there next to him.

Suoh comes over. He’s much larger than Akihito, so he easily reaches across the railing and hooks a strong arm around Kou.

“It’s alright, Akihito. I got this.” Suoh reassures the blond.

Asami’s appears behind Akihito and pulls him away so Suoh can do his job. “It’s alright. It’s okay! He’ll get Kou,” Asami grips the boy into his arms and turns him around so he can look at him. “Are you okay?” Asami asks, carefully, inspecting Akihito.

The boy is clearly still shaken, and he watches carefully as Suoh easily guides Kou towards the railing and then picks him up and over it, so he’s safe on the ground floor. Although he wraps himself around Asami, Akihito can hardly keep himself upwards and needs the older man's support.

He only takes his hazel eyes away from Kou once he knows he’s okay, and he looks up to Asami with tear-filled eyes. “Where’s Takato?! I-I had a premonition that Barbas caught him! Wh-where is he?” Akihito says through tears.

At first, Asami’s at a loss for an answer. He didn’t really know if Takato was truly okay. He’s about to answer something like - I’m sure he’s okay. When suddenly, a bright light appears, and two figures orb into the balcony. It’s Takato and Rinko, and Asami sighs in relief.

“Takato!” Akihito calls to them. He releases Asami and runs over to give his big brother a bear hug. “I’m so glad you’re alright!”

“I’m sorry we missed everything. Barbas attacked me in the elevator, but I called for Rinko and got out. My nose got pretty beat up, but Rinko healed me,” Takato explained why he was late for everything. He held on to Akihito, too, and looked over his shoulder to see Kou. “Is Kou alright?”

The black-haired boy turned to look at them. He being held up by Suoh, and he looked still very shaken and pale. But he rushes over to them to the other two brothers and joined in on the group hug.

“I love you guys!” Akihito says tearfully, as he lets them go from their group hug. “I was so scared I’d lose you.”

“Can we please get off this rooftop, please?” Kou insists wearily.

“Yeah, I agree. Rinko. Let’s go home.” Takato turns to Rinko behind her, and she nods.

“Y-you guys go on ahead. I’ll catch up with you later.” Akihito interjects, and they all nod understandingly. The three orb away, leaving Akihito behind on the roof. Most of the Anti-magic squad are still around. They're cleaning up Barbas ashes and running some tests on them.

Asami’s a few steps behind Akihito, with his hands sheepishly in his pocket, waiting for him to finish having his moment with his brothers.

He wraps his arms around the older man's neck, and Asami gives him a smug look.

“Thank you, Asami…” Akihito says, and he stands up on his tippy-toes to kiss the man.He’s calmed down, and Asami hooks his arms around him and kisses him back.

“I told you Barbas shouldn’t be taken lightly…”

“Yes, I know…” He buries his face in Asami’s neckline. They embrace for another moment longer, and then Akihito peeps up once again. “Do you know when the Book of Shadows said ‘trust in the greatest of all powers’, y’know it was talking about …talking about love, right?”

Asami just hums in response, and his lips linger around Akihito’s forehead.

“Does that mean that, 'you trust me' line... was a confession, Mr. Asami Ryuichi…” He peeks his head up from under Asami’s chin, and he’s blushing like a tomato.

Asami chuckles. “Hmmm…maybe.” He says coyishly. “I didn’t know I needed to confess to my soulmate.”

“You idiot….” Akihito chuckles. “T-take me home.”

“Which one?”

“The one without the thin walls, please…”

Asami chuckles and blinks them away to the penthouse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg they are finally getting somewhere 😩


	26. Chapter 26

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I am fortunate enough to be spending it with my household- which is how we usually celebrate the holiday anyway. But I know for a lot of my friends, they will be alone on thanksgiving because of the pandemic. So I bring u a little fluffy and some silliness to get through this holiday season 💕

_I acted like an ass, and he STILL saved my butt._

Kou was sulking. Barbas had just attacked, and they were all home safe and sound. Kou was trying to work up the nerve to shoot Suoh a freakin text message.

_It should be easy. Just shoot him a text saying;_

“Suoh, I’m sorry I acted like a big jerk face, and you saved my life last night, and I really owe you one,”

_Or no, no, that sounds so stupid. ‘I owe you one’ - like what the heck, he saved my life. How about…_

“I acted like a little brat a while ago. I was just really upset, and I took it out on you. I assumed something awful about you and Asami. And you still came to my rescue… I’m really sorry. I hope we can still be friends…”

_Was that good? UGH..._

Usual Kou had his brothers to go to for this kind of thing. They’d draft the text together and go over every period and uppercase lettering to ensure everything was exactly as it ought to be. They’d make sure one would not sound too overly sappy or stupid. But he was on his own in this regard.

And so he moped.

What made the whole thing worse was that Akihito had left with Asami, his savior for the day. And they were definitely getting it on at Asami’s apartment- as per usual. While meanwhile, Takato was with his savior- Rinko. AND they were DEFINITELY getting it on upstairs as Kou sulked in the living room. Sexiled as the saying goes, from going upstairs.

_God damn it! Couples are SO annoying._

He sulked as he stared at his phone, trying to come up with a text message that was suitable to send to Suoh. Maybe he should just play it cool...

“Hey. I know I acted like a real ass the other day, and you still came to my rescue…I’m really sorry. Thanks for today.”

Short and sweet, he resigned himself. He hit the send button before he could take it back, and then he stared at the screen, waiting for a reply.

“What am I doing… I am a crazy person…”

He puts his phone down and sits back down, he had been anxious pacing, and he hadn’t even realized it. He melts into the chair and groans, and he covers his face with his arm dramatically.

Then he hears it, *DING DONG*

It wasn’t his cell phone ringing…

_________________________________

Akihito was in such a good mood the following morning he decided he wanted to make waffles for everybody.

“Take me home, Asami!” He playfully demanded.

“I’m not a taxi service, Akihito…” Asami responded just as teasingly.

“Oh, if you don’t, then you aren’t getting those 5 stars reviews.” Akihito started. “-And I’ve been told I tip very well!” He continues with a frisky response.

Asami scoops up his chin and his cheeks, “I only get paid upfront, little witch.”

It was perhaps not one of Akihito’s finer moments. He had seemingly forgotten that he was still wrapped up in bed naked with the older man when he had chosen to flirt with Asami.

So waffles were going to have to wait a hot moment.

But afterward, they somehow made it back to the manor, and they’re still the first one’s up. Akihito gets to work making the waffles batter, and Asami sits on the breakfast nook nearby reading the newspaper. He was wearing casual clothing for once and acting strangely chill today.

Akihito makes a pot of coffee first and pours a glass for himself and Asami. Asami took his black, while Akihito put lots of sugar and milk in his.

“How come we’re the first ones up? Where is everybody…” Akihito questions.

But just as the words escape his mouth, he hears someone coming down the staircase in the other room. Akihito perks up to see who it was, but then he hears the front door clicking open and then clicking close.

“Who was that?” Akihito wonders.

He steps out into the dining room to see if he can see any sign of who just exited. He starts to think maybe they were just stepping out for the newspaper or to take out the trash. But nobody is coming back. But maybe it was Rinko leaving- but she can just teleport? He wanders back into the kitchen, more confused than he was before.

“Weird.” He says but goes back to work on the waffle batter. Once he’s all ready and heating the waffle maker, he finally hears someone else coming down the stairs.

It was Kou. He looks to have woken up on the right side of the bed as he steps into the kitchen. In fact, there’s an air about him that looks bright-faced and relaxed.

“Oh. uh- what are you doing back?” Kou remarks, his face suddenly drops as he sees Akihito. He looks a little thrown.

“Making waffles!” Akihito says enthusiastically.

“Oh-um. Good idea.”

“Did you just hear someone at the door? I could have sworn I heard someone leaving?” Akihito asks. He was pouring some of the mixtures into the waffle makers, so he doesn’t see the flash of dread on Kou’s face.

“N-no, I didn’t hear anything. I-I just woke up.”

“Weird,” Akihito says again and continues to work away.

“Yes. Very odd.” Asami suddenly chimes in. He’s looking straight at Kou, a satisfied smirk on his lips. 

Kou’s face flashes in dread again because he hadn’t seen Asami there. And the man clearly knew everything. Kou looks at Akihito, who’s still making waffles and is in his own world. Then he looks back at Asami. He gives him pleading eyes, and he claps his hands together in a praying like gestures. Silently mouthing, please don’t tell him.

Asami's smirk only grows, and he waves Kou off- he won’t say a peep.

Kou turns to get some coffee, relieved that Asami seems good enough not to tell Akihito.

A few moments later, the elder brother arrives downstairs. He had evidently also woken up on the right side of the bed this morning.

“Waaaffflllesss,” He says as he enters the kitchen and heads straight for Akihito. He takes a big sniff of the waffle and rubs his hands together excitedly. “Akihito. By the way…I should have talked to you earlier, but with all the Barbas stuff, I lost track- but do we need to have a conversation about _thin walls._ ” Takato raised an eyebrow when he said it.

Akihito dropped the tongs he was holding to get the waffles out of the hot iron, and his face furiously flushes bright crimson. He looked at his brothers, an O forming around his lips.

Asami snorted behind them all. He liked this seat he had picked because nobody seemed to have seen him when they had first walked in. And therefore they were doing things they wouldn't normally do in his presence.

Takato spins around and catches a glimpse of Asami, who’s still minding his own business reading the newspaper. Takato clicks his tongue together. “But I mean it,” he turns back around to Akihito, who’s still mortified. “I mean, I even thought you guys had gone to Asami’s place, so why did you com—”

“Y’KNOW! This is neither the time nor the place!” Kou suddenly butts in, eyes wide with peril. Nobody seems to notice how red Kou had gone in that moment, but Takato relents.

“Fine…” He turns to look at Asami, “But all I am saying is- keep it down in here.” And he strides out. Kou awkwardly follows him out.

“Asami, are we boring you?” Akihito decided to ask while he’s about to bring out a plate full of food to the dining so they can all eat together.

Asami puts his paper down, finally. He stands and picks up the tray of waffles Akihito was about to take in. “What are you talking about Akihito, you’re all wildly entertaining, and this is the most fun I’ve had in ages.” He plants a kiss on Akihito’s lips and then spins around to take the tray to the living room.

____________________________________

Rinko had come down last for breakfast and sat next to Takato. Rinko was still not used to having a demon at the table, but she sighed and got over it - as it appeared everyone else had.

Just as breakfast starts to dwindle down, they get an unexpected visitor. A flash of blue orbs comes down in the dining room, and an unknown white lighter appears in front of them.

She’s a middle-aged lady, with short dark hair. She has an old fashion type of look to her. She reminded Akihito of a strict gym teacher he once had. The woman is wearing a frumpy suit, thats crisp white.

She turns to look at the scene in front of her. “What's going on here?” She asks.

“Um. Breakfast? How about- what are you doing in our house? Who are you?” Akihito snips out. He’s looking at her with disdain.

Rinko suddenly stands, “Ueda-san! W-what are you doing here?”

The woman sighs deeply, “Rinko-san. As you should know, in our White lighter handbook, section 23b states that senior white lighters can do random inspections of White lighters and their charges…” She raises an eyebrow and looks around the room. A little clipboard appears from behind her back, and she starts scribbling notes. “…having a social event with her charges…” her brow raises even higher, and she scribbles more on her clipboard.

Rinko’s too shocked to respond.

“An inspection!” Akihito and Takato say at the same time, and they look at Rinko.

Meanwhile, Kou seems to be looking at something in the distance, a baffled expression on his face, “There's a white lighters handbook?”

Asami chuckles and rubs his chin, “Oh, this I have to watch…”

“U-Ueda-san. It’s the weekend. We just had a big win vanquishing Barbas. We’re having a little celebration.” Rinko tries to explain.

But the women’s attention has been grabbed by Asami, and the two have a bit of a staring contest. Asami looking at her with a cocked head and the cockiest smile he can muster. She looks at him with a sour face and indignation.

“Is this-“ Ueda gasps, “A demon!” She looks at Rinko exasperatedly. “At a social event with a DEMON!” She starts furiously scribbling on her clipboard.

“Someone obviously didn’t get the memo…” Asami says with a small hint of ire in his voice.

Akihito pounces up from his seat, ready to defend Rinko, “Excuse me. I am one of Rinko’s charges, and this ‘demon’ happens to be my soulmate. So who I choose to have around at MY house around my table, has nothing to do with Rinko.”

“This…demon is A Charmed Ones - soulmate!” Her eyes never leave Asami’s, and then she turns to Akihito. “I’ve very sorry for your loss…” she says deadpan.

Asami chuckles.

The woman goes on writing in her clipboard, with a brow raised.

Takato decides to stand. “I just wanna say that as the Charmed One. We should be afforded a bit more leniency from the council and from white lighters since we have fought the hardest for the side of good. We are your best allies, your strongest allies. But we are also not robots. We are trying to live our lives as normal as possible. And frankly, I think Rinko gives us special treatment that allows us to do that and helps us have a good balance between our Charmed life and our normal life.”

Rinko looks a little heartfelt at Takato’s speech and the brothers all nod in agreement.

Ueda looks up from her clipboard. “You mean to say the Charmed Ones have _day_ jobs.” She had said it so condescendingly.

Akihito had enough, “Excuse me! Vanquishing evil doesn’t pay the grocery bills or keep the lights on in this manor and -“

He’s about to go out even further with his rant when Ueda suddenly continues. “And oh- I’ve heard plenty about Rinko’s ‘special treatment,’” she scoffs.

“Ueda-san!” Rinko admonishes loudly.

“HA!” Asami suddenly speaks up and stands from his seat. “It’s things like this, _Ueda-san,_ that makes people turn to the dark side so easily. Because you _people_ have such a stick up your own ass with your nonsense ideas about ‘purity’ and ‘morality.’ Can you imagine? I mean, Takato and his white lighter probably have the most _vanilla_ of sex. And you still have the gall to slut-shame her like it’s the 19th century instead of 21st,”

Akihito’s mouth dropped. He was impressed with his words, but also, maybe he shouldn’t have said that line ‘the most vanilla of sex.’

The women’s eyes widen, “I didn’t come here to receive a _lecture_ from the likes of you.”

“No? Because to a white lighter - you can’t improve upon ‘perfection,’ can you? And you’ll only need your _handbook_ to tell you what to think…” Asami continues with his blister.

Ueda scoffs awkwardly, “Rinko. I’ll be coming back when your company has improved.” She doesn’t take her eyes off Asami, and she orbs away.

“That was so cool, Asami!” Akihito swells with pride.

“Asami. You - you probably shouldn’t have said that in front of her. It’ll only lead to more trouble…but I’m glad you did.” Takato was a bit lost for words since some of it was a partial insult to him.

Even Rinko is lost for words. “…Asami… Thank you.” She knows she should say it because he came to her defense.

“I only did that because I hate white lighters,” Asami says dismissively. He turns to Rinko. “No offense…but she’ll be back. And if thats the case, I would rather not be around.”

“I couldn’t agree more.” Akihito walks over to the other side of the table and grabs Asami's hands. “Taxi! Let’s go!” He says playfully.

Asami smirks. He was asking for it. “Alright.”

He blinks the two of them out of there, probably for some more taxi fare…

Because it wouldn't be the end of this 'inspection'.

__________ **OMAKE** _______________

Kou almost jumped out of his seat. He was so shocked when he heard the doorbell ringing.

 _Who the hell could that be?_ Was his first thought. It was kind of late, after all. Not the time for normal guests to be ringing the doorbell.

“I GOT IT!” He yelled up the stairs when he got up and headed to the front entrance. As if anyone was paying attention, the two upstairs were probably too busy…

He opens the door, and his jaw must have dropped on instinct. “S-Suoh…”

“Hi.” The blond waved meekly. “Ugh, I know it’s late, but- um. I wanted to make sure you were okay…”

Kou wasn’t exactly sure what possessed him to do what he did next. But he was glad he had. He yanked the man by his tie, catching the man off guard, and he was pulled partially into the house, and Kou locked their lips together.

Suoh was about a head taller than him the step-down, from the porch to the front door, actually helped Kou not be on tippy toes.

Before he could even truly process what he had done and what it had even meant, muscular arms are already wrapping around him, picking him up and leading him upstairs. Kou hardly even took notice of the fact that even though Suoh had never _officially_ been invited upstairs - he still knew exactly where and which bed to deposit Kou on.

_______ **OMAKE** _____________

Akihito had received a text message this morning, for which he did not show or tell Asami. It was something he had to deal with on his own.

Mitarai, who he was stakeout with the night before when all of the Barbas things had gone down. Had left him a message.

“Are you gonna tell me why you asked me to drop you off at Sion? You said you had a family emergency? And didn’t you do that interview for them like ages ago?” The rival photographer was asking.

Akihito should have gone to Asami- if nothing but to get a good excuse for what Akihito should say to that nosy Mitarai. But to be honest, he was partially afraid Asami would do something drastic. Like put a tail on Mitarai or get his phone records or something extremely like that.

 _Surely_ …There was no need for that. The brothers had dealt with demons trying to kill them, warlocks attacking them, and many other magical beings.

They could assuredly deal with one pesky photographer…


	27. Christmas Special: Part one

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> omg its been forever excuse me 
> 
> this ended up taking to much time and being way longer then I anticipated so now there will be two of them lol. I will hopefully post part two by tomorrow, as tomorrow (today) happens to be the winter solstice! so perfect timing for this episode. but we will see i might be delayed a day or two so bare with me.
> 
> I did a lot of research for this, looking up about actual pagan stuff so that was very interesting, and in a lot of ways it informed the piece too, but I think more so in the latter half when aki begins to actually think more about what it all means. this episode was kinda like - its Christmas! lol
> 
> Obvious happy holidays ❤️

“The council wants us to celebrate Christmas?” Akihito asks questioningly. “Well, we do something for Christmas, y'know we always go out to eat on Christmas…”

“No. Not Christmas. Yule.” Ueda, their whitelighter inspector that had been bothering the brothers for the past two weeks says, she facepalms herself. “Really, Rinko-san, not telling your charges about basic Wicca.” She nods her head disapprovingly and gives a look like - I’ll be sure to write that down in my clipboard.

“It’s their first year as witches. I-I was gonna tell them!” Rinko tries. She’s been having to deal with this ‘inspector’ for some time now, and it was likely growing on her nerves just as it was for everyone else.

“Well, I suppose I’ll have to give your charges a little history lesson then…” Ueda starts. “Saturnalia, the winter solstice, almost every culture celebrates something this time of year. Christmas is Christians' attempt to re-write pagan traditions and festivals with Christian ones. Yule is actually a Germanic pagan holiday that became incorporated into what we now associate with Christmas traditions. Yule logs, Yule trees, Yule singing, decorating your house with evergreens, holly, mistletoe, and wreaths.”

The three brothers, Rinko and Ueda are sitting in the attic having a meeting. They’re all a little testy to be here. Ever since Ueda arrived, they have been forced to play nice. Especially after Asami’s little outburst. Although they were all happy he had done it- it resulted, however, in Rinko begging them to be on their best behavior for the rest of this very long inspection process.

“I could get fired if I fail so badly. She could become your new whitelighter.” Rinko had said to three of them the day after Asami’s little spat with Ueda. Which made all three brothers shudder in horror. Especially Takato, who was just getting used to the fact his girlfriend was a whitelighter.

So now they were all playing along. And dang, had Ueda asked for a lot. They had to clean up the attic and their potion-making supplies (i.e., the kitchen) so that it would be up to her standards. Although they were kind of finding some benefits, it made all their Wicca supplies a lot more organized and would probably make their job a little more productive and efficient.

But man, it had been a pain in the ass. Ueda was very pushy and methodical about everything. As annoying as she was, it was also clear she knew a lot, and they were starting to realize that Rinko had always taken the laid-back approach. Which they still weren't sure if it was a positive or a negative.

Ueda continued with her history lesson. “But I am not even talking about the Yule Germanic traditions although there is some correspondence. I am talking about the Wheel of the Year. I am talking about the traditional Sabbats of the Wicca calendar. It’s practically the structural center of the ‘Wicca religion’. The Sabbats comprise of the solar holidays. The solstices and the equinoxes. The Wheel of the Year celebrations is about the connection you share with other covens and others who practice and celebrates Wicca traditions. By participating in these rituals, you are ‘Turning the Wheel’. Which is why it’s very important for the Charmed ones to participate.”

“So part of this ‘turning the wheel’ is ugh. Doing Christmas-ie things.” It was all Akihito got from her big speech. As in front of them, they were reading the Book of Shadows, detailing the Yule tradition, including basically - Christmas-ie things. However, they were making it sound so complicated.

Ueda slumped her shoulders. “Really. Takaba-san? Do you think all there is to being a witch is warlock hunting and demon-slaying? The winter solstice is about - Rebirth. Hope. Introspection. The celebration of light. But all you can say is you get to light candles and put up a Christmas tree? Each part symbols something significant to the Yule. Evergreen, symbolizing renewal. Holly representing hope. Mistletoe and fertility. The tree representing the tree of life. Wreaths symbolize the wheel and the cycle of life.” It seemed like she could go on and on until Rinko, thankfully, buts in and cuts her lesson short.

“Basically. Yule is one of the most important parts of the Wheel of the Year, and one of the merriest and happiest.”

“Does this mean some evil demon or something won’t attack us?” Kou decides to add to the conversation.

Ueda nods reluctantly. “That we know…” She added some caution.

“Well, then, I am down. I’ve had my fill of demons attacks for a little while.” Kou nodded happily. He cared less about all that witchy stuff and more about its practicality, which means no more attacks from evil forces.

“Alright, then I am done for some quite witchy time if it means all we have to do is decorate the house. I’ve taken too many sick days off of work anyway. So it’ll be nice to get some peace around here.” Takato added.

“Now we have to make an alter up here or downstairs. I’ve made a list of things you’ll need to prepare for the winter solstice event. Some herbs, and candles to get, as well as what you might consider to be ‘Christmas decorations’ I expect you to get all these things in the next few days so we can be prepared for the day of the winter solstice.” Ueda continued. “Because on the day of the winter solstice we’ll be doing something very special.”

“Ohhh.” Kou and Akihito perked up playfully.

“On the day of the winter solstice, the veil between the living and the dead is thin. It special time of the year when communicating with the dead is actually the easiest. So as such. We are going to call upon your grandmother.”

“Grandma Ai!!” All three of the boys exchanged a look of shock and excitement.

“Wait a minute. We get to commune with Ai!” Takato said, looking seriously between Rinko and Ueda.

Rinko and Ueda exchange a pleased look. It had been something they had been planning to cheer the boys up after their run-in with Barbas.

“Are you serious? We can talk with Grandma Ai?” Akihito spoke up now, eyes wide with excitement “I thought that would be like hardcore witchy stuff!”

“It’s made easier on the night of the winter solstice. Not only that, but if done properly, she can stay in human form instead of appearing to you all in ghost form for the entirety of the night of the winter solstice.”

“Ai gets to come back for a whole night?” Kou adds delightedly.

All of them talk excitedly about what they have to do and prepare for the night of the winter solstice. The conversation turns merrier, even among Ueda as it really begins to dawn on them that they will get to speak to and hug and talk to their recently deceased grandma Ai.

Ai had raised all three of the brothers. She kept their Charmed One’s destiny a secret all their lives and even bound their powers as children so they could have a normal life until adulthood. She died suddenly earlier this year.

And with her death, the brother powers came to light, and they found out they were the Charmed Ones. They had to figure it out all on their own. And while it was true Rinko had been watching over them and indirectly aiding them, they had never really had any help.

It felt like now, with this winter solstice stuff, they could finally ask some of the questions they never got to ask and truly get to say goodbye to the women they had basically considered to be their mother.

But after they had finally finished off everything and everything was planning for later, they went into their bedrooms, ready to go to bed. Takato went to his room first with Rinko.

“I feel like I have so much to tell her.” He was musing on. “So much, I wanted to ask her. I can’t believe we really just get to see her again. For a whole night, too.”

“Um, do you realize you’re gonna have to tell her about… Asami.”

Takato stopped dead in his tracks.

“Oh. Shit.”

____________________________

Akihito was in such a good mood as he went back to his bedroom. He was thinking about all the things he’d have to catch Ai up on. His job, all the demon-hunting they were doing. As he walks into his bedroom, a tall figure in black is already there waiting for him.

It startles him at first. “Asami! You baka what have I said about blinking in the house!”

He realizes Asami’s looking at some pictures on the wall, he’s obviously arrived not too long ago as he is still in his three-piece suit and winter coat on. His attention seems to be drawn to some photographs on the wall.

It's some embarrassing baby photos of himself, and he blushing thinking those were not supposed to be seen by Asami. “Don’t look at those!” He adds

The man turns around, a smirk curling his lips, “What do you mean? you look very sweet.” The demon steps a little bit closer to his soulmate until he scoops him up by his lower back and pushes him against his chest and into a greeting kiss. “Hello…” He says as he nudges down lower into Akihito’s neck and pecks softly along Akihito's soft skin there.

“Guess what! I have some good news!” Akihito says delightedly in-between Asami kissing him.

“Can it wait? I've been waiting very patiently since I’ve been trying to avoid that, Ueda-san…” Asami lightly complains. His light pecks are growing with intensity.

“Asami, you pervert! Come on. I have something good to share!” Akihito teases, and he playfully tries to push away from Asami's octopus-like arms.

Asami lets go and holds Akihito’s gaze. “Is this about the Yule?” He asks, raising an eyebrow.

“H-how do you know? I just found out about it.”

“You should just assume I know everything about the Wicca world,” Asami perks up. “Do you also know that the night of the Winter Solstice for many cultures was a special night of fertility?”His voice takes on that low sultry growl that makes Akihito squirmish.

Akihito goes bright crimson, “W-what are you talking about, you BAKA! I am a man. What does fertility have to do with anything!

Asami smirks playfully, although his eyes are gleaming with want. “Fertility. Virility. It’s all the same.” He points out his smirk widening, and suddenly, he’s pushing Akihito against the wall.

“Y-you! I can’t with you! Everything’s always about something kinky. Well, for your information, for my first winter solstice, I’m gonna be communing with my Grandmother!” Akihito finally blurted out.

Asami blinks, surprised. “Oh.” He says, taken aback, and he takes a step back, the gleam In his eyes suddenly dulls. “Well. Then I guess you’ll be busy then.”

It was not a usual thing for Akihito to see, the slightest hint of uncertainty from Asami. But thats what he had just seen from him. A small moment when he seemed- embarrassed perhaps. Except it was only the slightest glimmer of it.

Akihito realizes the implications of what he was implying. That Asami was automatically not included in this ‘happy family moment.’ Because they’d probably have to ‘break it’ to Ai that there was a demon in the family, and that would probably not go over very well. And once again, Asami would be sidelined like this, even though he’s done everything right lately.

“I’m inviting you.” Akihito blurts out immediately without another thought.

Asami recognizes what Akihito is trying to do, and he brings up a hand defensively. “Akihito, it’s alright. I wouldn’t want to - intrude.” He sweeps a thumb tenderly over Akihito’s cheek. “This is important to you and -“

“Don’t be ridiculous! You have to come! Y-your important to me too!”

Akihito pauses after blunting that one out. What did he just admit to saying? He goes completely flushed and wide-eyed with embarrassment. Although. Asami had more or less confessed something similar to him not too long ago.

“Akihito, it’s alright, we have the whole month of December to celebrate lots of things. You’ll only have one night to see her.” Asami still sweeps his thumb over Akihito’s cheek and jaw. “I’ll meet her next year,” Asami adds with a smirk.

To which Akihito even laughingly scoffs as he wraps his arms around the older man's neck. “Your rather confident, aren’t you?” Akihito says amusedly.

“I think the words are - I am rather generous. Your grandmother can have one holiday of the year. As long as I - “ He leans in, “get all the other fertility ones.”

“BAKA!!”

____________________________

The next morning Akihito was in a much better mood, albeit sore.

Asami had blinked him to the apartment for the night and then blinked him back to his bedroom in the manner, and then he’d blink to the office for the day. It was so that nobody, especially Ueda, would notice Akihito had left.

Well, actually, Asami had thought it was a bit juvenile to be sneaking around like they were teenagers or something, and he had also complained that he wasn’t a taxi. But Akihito had insisted. A deal had to be stricken so that Asami would agree- and it had cost Akihito a lot!

In any case, as Akihito comes downstairs, he finds that for once, someone else had already made breakfast. It was Ueda-san, who was actually the only one that got up earlier than him.

Despite her objections last time about breakfast fare, she had apparently decided to make it so that everyone could get up a little faster and go about doing what they had been assigned to do.

Takato was already awake as well. “Akihito. We’re gonna need to talk.”

“Oh, about what?” Akihito started idyll as he buttered his toast.

Ueda was giving them a look as if saying, - hurry it up already!

“Well, it's about what we are going to tell Ai.”

“Yes. What about it?”

“Are we gonna tell her.. about.. you know. Asami…”

Akihito turns. “What's that suppose to mean.”

“Don’t give me that look, Akihito. I am just practical. I can’t imagine it going over well.”

Akihito just signed. He actually felt awful about how his family always treated Asami even after all he’s done for them. “No, I get it. We can’t have anything UNPLEASANT, I suppose!”

“Akihito, thats not even what I was gonna say!”

“No, it’s fine. I already gave him the bad news that he’s not invited, so it's fine. You don’t have to worry that he'll ruin our perfect image.” Akihito grabbed his toast and turned on his heels, and stormed out of there.

Why was it bothering him so much? Even Asami had brushed it aside…maybe he had even done it a little too soon.

He decides to leave for the day, and on his way out the door, he runs into someone he hadn’t expected to see directly outside the door, waiting on the patio.

“Blond giant?” He says just as the man is turning around.

The said blond giant was wearing the black and white suit that is standard fare for Asami’s guards. Akihito had vaguely gotten to know Suoh in the earlier days of meeting Asami when the two used to get lunch dates and hang out at the office.

“What are you doing? Asami’s not here?” Akihito asks.

“Good morning Takaba-sama. I am here to pick up your brother, Kou. We are running some errands. He mentioned something about having to get Yule decorations.” Suoh said respectfully and flatly, giving nothing away.

“Please enough with the Takaba-sama, stuff. You know I hate it.” Akihito starts, “You give my brothers a ride?”

“They are not as averse to protection as you are Takaba-sama,” Suoh replies, there’s a hint of playfulness in his tone. He was one of Asami’s guards that was a little bit more light-hearted than the others and had a tendency to show a witty side.

“I see. I bet Kou’s only in on these because he gets a free ride!” Akihito responds just as wittily.

Just then, the door opens, and Kou comes out the door wearing a hat, scarf, and carrying two coffees. He’s got a healthy blush on as he happily walks out the door. “Got you your coffee—Akihito! Ugh hi. Uh. I was just getting Suoh, ugh Suoh-san some coffee.” He awkwardly hands the coffee to Suoh.

“Thank you, Kou-san” Suoh takes the coffee and gives Kou a knowing looking, one that Akihito doesn’t see.

Akihito doesn’t notice how awkward Kou is acting, nor did he see the shared glance between the two, so he continues, “Do you mind if I join you guys on your errands so I can get my stuff for Yule. Takato was a meanie today, and I am trying to get out of the house.” Akihito links arms with his brothers, and he starts walking down the pathway towards the car without Suoh.

Kou turns around and gives a sympathetic look to Suoh, who gives him a reassuring nod thats it's okay. Akihito crashing their date, it wasn’t so bad. Suoh walks up behind them and gets the black Audi's door thats parked in the front, and then he shuffles forward to the driver's seat.

“Do you know what Takato said to me this morning? He basically was like, oh, you better keep Asami away from our yule stuff because it’s gonna be awkward explaining things to Ai. It’s so rude. I hate that Asami keeps having to prove himself over and over again.” Akihito pouted once they got into the car.

“So why don’t you invite him anyway,” Kou responds.

“Well, I did, actually, but he said he didn’t wanna get in the way…” Akihito muses on it for a moment staring out the window while they drive off the curb. “Anyway! Where were you planning on going to get all your supplies for yule.”

“Ugh. Well, just a mall or something. I didn’t really think this through that much…” Kou ponders.

“If I can make a suggest…” Suoh from the front speaks, “I know a shop that might be of interest, and they will definitely have everything you need for yule. Perhaps you can even pick up the things Takato needs…as .ugh. a peace offering.” Suoh suggests looking into the rearview mirror at them as he drives.

“Hmmm. Alright, I am curious. Lead the way, blond giant!” Akihito responds delightedly.

___________________________

Suoh takes them to an odd part of town, and at first, Akihito and Kou are not sure what they should expect. It’s a hole in the wall kind of shop, next to a pawn shop and dumpy noodles place.

They begin to doubt that they’ll be able to find a fresh evergreen tree here. Suoh parks in the back alleyway and opens the door for them.

“I know it doesn’t look like much, but trust me, this is the place to be. But ugh. Don’t come here on your own without either me or Asami-sama.”

Just then, someone opens a metal door and walks into the alleyway, “Hey, Dumbass! You can’t just park here!”

Suoh turns around and faces him. “Kai,” He says lowly, almost in warning, “These are important guests of Asami-sama. We’d like to do some shopping at your store.”

The man Suoh called Kai is an older middle-aged man. He suddenly straightens up and bows, “My apologies, I did not recognize the car. Please. Come this way,” He opens the metal door for them all.

“Uh. Yes, hello.” Akihito says sheepishly, and Suoh leads the way inside the building.

It’s not at all how it looks from the outside. Inside it looks like a very old building, almost like an old victorian building. It has old looking antiques hanging around and lines of bookshelves and glass display cases. The place looks like an antique shop or a book shop. It’s pretty dark and dust inside too.

“What is this place,” Kou speaks, looking around at the huge interior.

“It’s a magic store. A really magic store.” Suoh says, “We get a lot of our supplies here ourselves in the anti-magic squad. They should have everything you’ll need for yule.”

“Ha-ha, yes. This is my little shop. It's called ‘The Hexing Hour.’ I’m Kai. I’m sure I can provide everything you need for your Yule celebrations.”

“Good, here's a list,” Suoh hands the list to Kai, “We’re gonna look around. You can bring everything out to the car outside in the front. Make sure everything’s of the highest quality for Asami-same guests.” He dumps the responsibility on Kai, who’s shoulders slump at being given such a long list.

“Right away. Suoh-sama, sir.” He grovels and disappears behind the counter.

“Creepy little man ain't he…” Kou says when he disappears.

“You can say that again… but he’s harmless,” Suoh says. “He’ll get everything together, and I’ll get some of the other guys to come to pack it up, pick it up, and then drop it off at the manor. Pretty easy, yeah. How about you guys just look around. I’m sure there are other things here that might be of interest to you. Perhaps you can get some things for the gift exchange you were planning on doing.” Suoh suggested.

Kou and Akihito exchange a delighted look and begin to walk around the shop. It’s three floors, and there's a lot of ground to cover. 

There's a front part of the store, which looks more like a normal magic shop. The more standard magically stuff is housed there, for novices or not true witches in the front. Things like tarot cards, crystals, apothecary things, botanicals, and incense. As well as a few basic but probably commercial Wicca books in the front part of the store.

It's the _kiddy_ stuff really, but there are still some basic things that they will probably want or need. But the deeper they go into the store- past where there's an “employee only signs” the more things you find that are clearly very real and Wicca.

They’re books and books, similar to their own book of shadows. Although much thinner and with different designs, some new and old. There are all sorts of emulates and strange jewelry behind glass cases. There are shelves lined with more strange potion ingredients like frogs tongue and horse heart. Ceremonial daggers and swords that look thousands of years old.

Akihito is oh-ing and aw-ing at everything. Having never seen such a collection of troves. Mostly Kou finds things to be a little gross, but also, he’s interested enough to listen.

They find more things that they’ll need for Yule, evergreen branches to make wreaths, and a whole tree which they see Kai bring out to an awaiting black car.

There are old clocks and clothing upstairs and even some beautifully carved staffs. They even have some antique guns in a display case upstairs that apparently can kill wendigos and hell hounds. Which apparently made it a very rare piece, as Suoh had said.

There were weird plants and seeds that grow strange and exotic plants, poisonous varieties, and rare plants for potion-making. There was holy water blessed by certain popes and bishops and even some religious relics like a splinter of the holy cross. A whole collection of types of blood, vampire blood, hellhounds, valkyries and apparently of greek gods.

It was altogether an amazing and yet highly bizarre little shop. Kou and Akihito were finding some interesting things. Akihito decided to stock up on some herbs and potion ingredients mentioned in the Book of Shadows. Kou was getting some new crystals. They joked that it was to replace the old ones that had zapped Asami in case those ones were defective.

They were also looking for gifts, and Akihito eyed this black Kylix, a raised shallow bowl used for rituals. It would surely be costly, and they were already buying up all this other stuff for yule.

“Takaba-sama. You can pick out anything in this store. Do not worry about the price. It will be charged to Asami-sama’s account.” Suoh said, seeing that he was eyeing it.

“I wouldn’t dare do that! I was just looking.” He put it down carefully and started looking at something else. But then a thought suddenly occurred to him. “Wait a minute, everything that we’re getting is that already being put on Asami’s account,” He said wide-eyed, realizing that it might have already been a done deal.

“Takaba-sama. Asami-sama owns this shop. Everything here already belongs to him. There is no price for these things. You should not be worried about such trivial things as money.” Suoh continued.

“OHHH, I was afraid you’d say something like that,” He was about to walk downstairs and put a halt to everything. Until Kou suddenly appeared next to him, putting a hand up to his chest to stop him.

Kou looked down at his little brother, a glare on his face equivalent to a death stare. He put a hand on Akihito’s shoulder, a little bit too harshly. He said nothing but just glared.

Akihito frowned. “Okay.” Message received. The three brothers were broke anyway. “Just this once, I guess. But don’t get anything too fancy.” He at least stimulated.

Kou nodded happily, having won this round.

Once they had gone through the whole shop and picked out a few small gifts and other things, Kai announced he was finished, and he took the rest of their stuff. To be put in the car that Suoh had sent.

Okay, so there were some very nice perks to having Asami be a soulmate. Having everything be delivered straight to the house by a team of guards was pretty convenient.

They said their goodbyes to Kai, went out the back way to the Audi, and then headed home. They stopped to pick up some food for dinner. And to Akihito’s surprise, Kou asked Suoh if he wanted to join them for dinner.

“Good call, Kou.” Akihito agreed. Suoh had been such a good help today. It was the least they could do.

“Thats very kind of you. Suppose it’s alright with you. Sure, I’ll stay for dinner.” Suoh responded from the front seat.

“Thats nice of you, Suoh. I thought for sure you’d say you were on duty or something.”

“Nope. Today was my day off, actually.” Suoh responds carelessly.

“It was your day off!” Akihito sat up from his seat, “And you spent it driving us around while we went shopping! Why didn’t you say something sooner,”

“Ugh. I mean, it’s uh. I get off at dinner. So I’ll be good.” He corrected himself so that Akihito wouldn’t get more upset.

“Oh. That's lucky. Well, I am glad you can join us!”

When they get home, all the stuff had been dropped off in the main hall. Kou, Takato, Rinko, and Suoh, start setting stuff up to be decorated. Suoh ends up being a great help as they need to get the evergreen tree set up in the front hall, and it's a huge one. Just as tall as Suoh, so it ends up being nice to have him there to help pick it up and move it to its proper place.

Takato and Akihito apologize to each other.

“I know it’s not what you meant, Takato… I just…I feel bad that we have to walk around eggshells because of Asami but I know you only meant to be honest…” Akihito says apologetically.

“And I know you have every right to be mad about that. You’re right. It’s not fair. I am sorry.”

Now that fences are mended, they get down to their decorating and finishing the ornaments they had made. Akihito threw some things together to make a nice meal and then went in to help everyone.

It was getting very festive and merry with all of them, and Akihito decided to call up Asami as he felt like he should be part of this too. After putting things in the oven for dinner, Akihito went aside to his bedroom to call up Asami.

“Hello,” the man answered.

“Heeellooo!” Akihito responded happily. “How are you?”

He could hear Asami chuckling, “I’m fine, Akihito, how are you. I heard you had a good time at the Hexing Hour today.”

“That place is so cool. How come you never told me about it!”

“We can go next time. What’s up?”

“Asami…I know it's a little last-minute… but we’re having a little party here..Y-you should come over…If you can. If you’re not too busy, I mean. And you know even glasses can come if he wants to too since Suoh is already here. Y’know if it's not too much to ask. Maybe you happen to have like an hour off or something for dinner…that would be nice. Wait a minute. You’re not gonna like catch on fire or something if you help decorate?!” Akihito said, realizing too late that he sounded embarrassing and was ranting.

He blushes like crazy thinking about it. Here he was wanting to see Asami in the middle of the day when work wasn’t even done. But he just so badly wanted to see the man, they were gonna decorate the tree, and he just wanted Asami to be here for it…. And not be _sidelined_.

There was silence on the phone for a moment. “Asami?” Akihito asked after no response.

A hand grabs Akihito by the hips from behind, and the boy yelped. “Miss me already?” A baritone voice says in a whisper next to his ear.

Akihito spins around, “Y-you! You bastard, don’t sneak up on people like that!” They both laughed and shared a greeting kiss. Akihito wraps his arms around Asami’s neck. “Does that mean, yes?” He asks cheerfully.

“Yes, Akihito, I have time to spare to decorate your Christmas tree if thats what you want,” Asami says and rolls his eyes playfully. “And no Akihito, I will not ‘catch on fire if I decorate a Yule tree,” He laughed.

“Good, now use the front door!” Akihito gives him an extra smack on the lips.

Asami sighs but blinks away.

Akihito’s already halfway down the steps when Asami is let in at the front door by his brothers.

“What a surprise!” Akihito says.

Asami takes off his jacket at the front hall tree. “I was informed there was a party going on…” Asami says.

_____________________________

Rinko and Takato had been making and preparing things to hang and decorate their Yule tree. They made ornaments and garlands made from only natural ingredients, which was traditional for yule trees.

They made ornaments made from dried orange slices with cinnamon sticks. Ornaments of holly and mistletoe. Ornaments made with oranges that were studded with cloves. Pine cones and acorn ornaments tied together with ribbons. They also made a few crystals that were tied with string and made into ornaments.

They had orb ornaments made of glass, which they had filled with herbs and feathers and dried flowers- little protective witch ornaments, Rinko had explained.

They all worked together, putting things up. They drank some mulled cider and mulled wine, which Akihito had made the other day. Even Asami was partaking. Akihito also got some snacks out while they waited for dinner to be made.

They were setting up the Yule log, a large piece of an oak tree, which they would put in the fireplace and burn over the course of the winter solstice. The three brothers did a special spell to light the fire with a special magical fire that lit a fire in the fireplace that would last for the entirety of the Yule holiday.

“Collect the ashes when it goes out. It's used in a lot of potions and spells, and is known to bring good luck,” Rinko explained.

It ended up being very useful to have Suoh and Asami there because both of them were the only ones tall enough to put some of the ornaments on top of the very tall Christmas tree.

“Kai probably gave you the tallest tree,” Suoh says as he puts some pine cone ornaments at the top.

And at the top of the Christmas tree, which Suoh was the only one tall enough to get to, was a specially carved symbol of three. The same symbol on their Book of Shadows, the symbol of the Charmed Ones. It was a specially made order that Rinko organized, and it just seemed very fitting having it be at the top of their tree.

The last thing they set up was their Yule alter, which they did up in the attic, which included some colored candles, gold, green, and white. The wreath they had made with evergreen and holly and some berries. A Fraser fir garland with eucalyptus. Some pine cones, incense, and crystals were scattered about the alter, at the center, an offering, a banquet made of dried and fresh flowers.

“It’s really cute,” Akihito said when all the decorations were finished. “And the house smelled AMAZING.” He also points out.

“Let's eat. I’m starving!” Takato declares.

They all agree and head downstairs. Akihito has to do some finishing touches to dinner, which actually Suoh helps with because he seems to be the only one of the lot that knows how to cook.

While they are busy cooking, Kou decides to take Asami aside.

“I know you know about Suoh and me…” He starts.

Asami blinks, surprised he was being called out like this, “No offense, Kou. It’s not like your that great at hiding it.”

“And you're not going to tell Akihito…” Kou asks. He seems to be making sure since it's been two weeks, and Asami still hasn’t told anyone.

“It’s…not my business too,” Asami says flatly. “But…they’re gonna find out eventually.”

Kou looks down. “I know.” He says meekly. “Uhm. Thanks for…y’know not saying anything,” He says sheepishly, scratching his neck. “By the way…When Akihito and I were at the Hexing Hour, Akihito was…” He lows his voice and looks around, “eyeing this raised shallow bowl I think it’s called a Kylix. But he didn't wanna buy anything extra, y’know, cause he is so finicky about money. Just so you know. Takato and I are not at all finicky with money- y’know as a side note.”

“I see a Kylix.” Asami started. “Thank you…Kou.”

Kou perked up with a smile and clamped a friendly hand on Asami’s shoulder. “No problem. We're bro’s, after all, right?”

“Uh.” Asami looked a little thornily at the hand on his shoulder.

Luckily Asami was saved from the awkwardness by the food arriving at the table. They all sat down for dinner. Kou and Akihito recounted their shopping trip today.

“Ueda-san maybe missed the party today, but I think she’ll be PLEASED with our decoration skills tomorrow, okay,” Akihito said jokingly.

After dinner and as their evening dwindled down, Suoh decided to leave, and Kou saw him out the door. Rinko and Takato decided to head up and shower and go to bed. Akihito and Asami were also going to head upstairs as they planned on going back to Asami’s apartment for the evening.

Akihito was a little tipsy after all the mulled wine he had and the other drinks he had dinner. They blinked back to the apartment in a moment.

“Asammiii…I’m so glad you could come… You had fun, didn’t you? I had fun. Holidays are very nice aren’t they. Maybe we should decorate the apartment here, wouldn’t that be fun!”

“Did you drink too much, Akihito?” Asami settled him down into the bed.

“Noooo!” Akihito said as if he was insulted. “Definitely not.”

“You have to be in tip-top shape tomorrow since you’re doing your solstice stuff and your ritual to talk to your grandmother.”

“Oh yeah! You’re right.” Akihito said, suddenly perking up.

“You know what will sober you up. A nice long shower.”

“Yes! Thats an idea!” Akihito sits up from the bedside and just immediately starts taking off his clothes, although he seems to be struggling. Asami laughs and starts helping him unit the boys completely stripped.

“Now hurry along, go to the bathroom, and start up the water. I’ll be over in a moment,” Asami instructs.

“Right-o!” Akihito drunk and merrily says. He walks towards the exit and down the hall towards the bathroom, butt naked.

When he leaves, Asami leaves a message to Suoh to purchase that Kylix that Akihito had been eyeing at the Hexing Hours.

He laughs a bit to himself while he takes off his own clothes.

_Normal it takes me at least a few moments to get him completely naked, but drunk Akihito is so nice he does it himself._

He puts on the bathrobe and heads towards the bathroom himself, where he will proceed to fuck his young soulmate up in the shower stall.

________________________________

Akihito had a hangover, and his hips were burning the following morning, but nothing could stop him from being happy when he woke up that morning at Asami’s place.

Asami was getting dressed a little earlier today since he had skipped out on work yesterday. He had some things in the morning he had to make up for. He was already dressed when Akihito awoke.

“Darling. I don’t think I’ll see you before your Solstice ritual since you’ll be up all night. Come over to the apartment tomorrow morning. You can get some shut-eye here if you want. And then you can tell me all about it.” Asami said as he sat on the edge of the bed and looked down at a slightly sleepy Akihito.

“Are you gonna be my taxi service,” Akihito says sleepily.

Asami rolls his eyes, laughing, “Ugh. I’ll have a car pick you up. How about that?”

Akihito laughs and beams. “Alright. I’ll give my usual taxi service a break.”

Asami sweeps a thumb over his cheek and rubs his lips. His eyes narrow slightly, and they take on that gleaming quality, “I’ll see you later then.” He leans down and captures the blond's mouth.

It’s a kiss with such untold hunger, holding back slightly but still so greedy. When he parts away, he leans back up and looks down at Akihito’s breathless, blushing face and hankering face. Asami sweeps a thumb across rosy swollen lips. “You be good,” Asami says before standing up and then blinking away.

Akihito sighs, realizing he won't see him until tomorrow, which made him a little sad. And then he looks down, realizing a single kiss had made him hard, and he groans.

Surely that was just his regular morning wood.

_Asami did that on purpose, didn’t he!_


	28. Chapter 28

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay part two!! I didn't think I was gonna get this out tonight because I woke up this morning and I had my period and that usually just drops my productivity rate quite a lot. 😭 But Tylenol is a wonderful thing 😅
> 
> Hope you like 🥰🥰 🎄

Akihito heads back home with one of Asami’s guards.

He was getting too used to that, wasn’t he? Everyone at home is in a good mood as they all begin to recap what they have to do to call upon the dead. They had to do the spell at a very exact time, sundown.

Ueda and Rinko assured them that everything was going just as planned and not to get too stressed about seeing Grandma Ai.

“You know you can do this spell anytime.” Ueda had said.

“WHAT?” Kou says. He was in the middle of making his lunch when Ueda and Rinko broke the news. “You mean we could have communed with Ai a long time ago,”

“Well, yes, of course. You are witches. Seances and communing with the dead are pretty par for the course, actually. But during the Winter Solstice, it's a little different. When you do normal seances or communing, they usually appear in a ghost form. But on the Winter Solstice, she gets to inhabit a body. You can hug and kiss her. It’s much more natural.”

“You mean we could have been talking to her, asking her all these questions we had since the beginning, but we never did,” Akihito adds.

Ai’s sudden death had hit him the hardest. He had moved to Osaka for a short period right after her death. He had wanted to getaway. He didn’t really want to accept what had happened. He was upset, and frankly, he knew he was acting a little childishly. He also wanted space away from his brothers too.

Osaka had only lasted about six months, and he was soon back home when he was completely out of luck and out of money. No sooner had he returned home, and the power of three was reunited, did strange things start happening around the manor.

He found that old Ouija board lying around, and it told him to go to the attic. The attic had always been sealed. It seemed to have gotten locked after Grandma Ai died. But he found it unlocked and open. Then he found the Book of Shadows in a trunk in the attic. Once he opened it and read the incantation, their powers were unsealed, and they soon were finding out about their Wicca ancestry.

They had so many questions back then, and not just that, they just wanted to talk to Ai. They just wanted to get to have their proper goodbyes. But here they were learning they could always have just called her up on the Book of Shadows phone and asked her questions. They could have had her all this time as a mentor while they were figuring out all this stuff!

Ueda suddenly grew serious. “It is true you could have, but don’t take this the wrong way. But actually, your grandmother requested that you wait until the winter solstice to call upon her. She wanted you all to grow and learn on your own.”

“I don’t understand. She didn’t wanna talk to us.” Akihito snapped.

“Akihito-san. That is not the truth at all. Ai-san was very protective of you all, and she loved you all dearly. You should know that. She didn’t want you to use her as a crutch, is all. You can ask her more about it when you see her. But I think she was right not to reveal herself sooner. She was always watching over you and making sure you were safe. But you are your own witches…Akihito-san. It does no good to dwell on the past.”

Akihito nodded. Not wanting to pick a fight with Ueda as it wasn’t really her fault whatever Ai had requested. It just made him sad to think that they could have spoken to her sooner.

It felt like the brothers had spent the whole day deciding what they were gonna do or say to Ai once they saw her. Akihito was just trying to brace himself so he wouldn’t just all outcry as soon as he saw her.

When the time finally came, they all went to the attic.

They had to place five candles on the ground in a loose circle, light them, and then do an incantation. Since they had done all the Yule decorating stuff, it should give strength to the spell. She’d be able to walk around the perimeter of the house but not leave it.

Just as the sun was at the lowest point, the brothers held hands and started their chant.

“Hear these words,

Hear my cry,

Spirit from the other side,

Come to me,

I summon thee,

Cross the great divide.”

There was an orb of lights, similar to how Rinko orbs, and suddenly around the candle circle, a young bright-faced woman appeared.

“Grandma?” The boy’s questioned at the same time.

It was Ai alright, although she looked almost unrecognizable. About 30 years younger, similar to the boy's own age. They recognized her from some old family photographs.

“Now, before you say anything!” She says, a wide smile lining her face. “Wouldn’t you want to appear in your younger self form? I always said I was turning 25 this year, didn’t I?”

“Grandma!” The boys say all at once and laugh.

“OH! You three!! Look at you!!” She holds out her hands, and the boys are beaming excitedly, and they rush over to hug her. “Have you guys got taller?” She asks when she has all of them in her arms.

“W-we missed you a lot,” Takato says.

“I know, my dears. I missed you all too.”

“Grandma, you were really cute when you were younger, wow,” Kou says, trying to make the moment a little hearted with a joke.

They all laugh. Akihito’s already teary-eyed. “We’re really happy to see you.” He says, fighting back the tears.

"I know. But I was never really gone. I was always here. And I’ll always be here. You can just call on me with that same spell anytime you want. It’s only a little more special on the winter solstice since I get to stay in a body!” She says. “Now I know you probably have a lot of questions…But let me just look at all of you. I have so much I want to say myself.”

She looks at all brothers, starting with Takato, “Takato.” She starts, and she scoops up his cheek to look at him at eye level. “My oldest. You’ve always felt like you had the most responsibility. And I hope I never made you feel like it was all on your shoulders to hold everyone and everything together. When it doesn’t have to be, you have two brothers who can- and should! Bare some of that responsibility. You’re only one man. If there's one thing I want to tell you, Takato- it’s that sometimes it's okay to just let go. Nothing ever goes as planned. And trust me, you’re doing marvelously at it. Thank you, Takato. For always being a rock, for always keeping us grounded. I know your brothers appreciate all that you do.” She stands up on her tiptoes pecks and Takato on his forehead, who’s getting a little teary-eyed himself.

Then she moves down to Kou, who’s already in tears. “Kou! My sweet middle child! If Takato is the earth. Then you are the water and the air, my dear.” She gently sweeps away some hair from his face. “You always just- go with the flow. Haha- As they say. No matter what, you made yourself into whatever anyone needed. It's in your nature to think of what others need- and what they need _you_ to be. Whether it’s friend, or brother, or confidant, or co-worker, or lover. You listen- and I mean you really listen, and it's such a rare quality. And you forgive, and you forget. You're the glue that holds everything together. But my dear boy, don’t forget that can get swept away in the flow of it all. You are your own person. Nobody gets to define you.” She sweeps the tears away from his leaking face and gives him a peck on his left cheek.

Then she turns to Akihito, who’s already seriously in tears. And he reaches out and gives her another hug. She laughs heartily. “Oh, Akihito. You’re gonna make me cry. My little troublemaker. My wild youngest child. The little firecracker.” She scoops up and holds both sides of his cheeks. “I was worried about you the most, y’know. Fire is an interesting element. It burns bright. It gives you light and warmth. It's passion, and drive, and ambition. Fire want’s _freedom._ And if it doesn’t get it, it can burn and destroy like nothing else. Your drive, your energy. That fire in you. It’s what makes you, you. Akihito. Trust me, anyone that touches fire knows there never the same after it. But it needs careful management, so it doesn’t burn everything in its path, or get snuffed out, or burn itself out. It’s okay to give in sometimes. It doesn’t make you weak or mean you’re being restrained. No one, with any sense in their brain, would truly try to hold you down, or hold you back.” She gives Akihito a peck on his right cheek.

And then she gives the lot of them another group huge.

_______________________

“-there's no use in bringing up the past. What's done is done? I don’t regret binding your powers. I know it must have been a shock when you found out you had your powers, but I don’t regret it. I wanted to give my boys a normal healthy life. The world has changed; not all the old ways can survive. You needed to live in the here and now. And I think you will find it makes you better people, and therefore better witches.” Ai was saying as she explained some of their questions.

They had moved things downstairs, where they had made tea and coffee. As they had to stay up all night, Ai would be leaving at first light. They had some snacks prepared, and they had gone downstairs to show her all the Yule decorations they made when they started talking more seriously. About her death, about their powers, about choices she had made regarding the brothers.

“I can’t believe I never remembered being able to freeze time when I was a kid,” Kou said, trying to daydream what that was like.

“Oh, it was a little annoying, trust me. You used to freeze all the neighbor's kids and all your friends. It would be such an annoying little hiccup. But not as annoying as Takato moving things with his mind. Believe it or not, for the first 5 years, it was actually Takato who was the little trouble maker and Akihito who was the little angel.”

They all laugh.

“I can’t believe it.” Akihito beams.

“It wasn’t until after I bound your powers did it reverse. I needed to do it when you were children. It wouldn’t have gone well having your powers in preschool. And well- I wasn’t about to home school you or something!” She said with a flair.

“I guess I understand why you bound our powers. Especially as we were supposed to be going to school and stuff, but you could have at least told us when we were adults.” Takato pressed. “And maybe even given our powers back when we turned 18.”

“Not all of you were ready for such a thing. When you turned 18, Takato, you wanted to go to college. You were looking forward to starting your normal life. It just didn’t feel right. Imagine you learning about your powers while you were trying to restart your life again in a college dorm. To be a Charmed One, it’s such a burden. I wanted you to be at least a little bit more set in your life and be comfortable in your own skin. Obviously…dying a little earlier than expected was not part of the plan. But things worked out, didn't it? You guys have been handling it so well. I couldn’t be prouder of my boys.” She turns to them, smiling widely.

“Now! Let's talk about something a little merrier! It’s the Yule holiday, after all!” She says, decidedly changing the topic of conversation, “Can I be expecting - GRANDCHILDREN anytime soon! Huh?” The three collectively groan, and Ai just laughed at them. “I know how annoying. Grandma wants to know all about the hot gossip going down since I’ve been gone.”

Takato decided to go first. “Well, mom. Shortly after, we got our powers. I met someone, and they're really important to me.” Takato takes a sideways glance over to Rinko, who’s been over in the corner with Ueda. “Um. Mom. I am dating a whitelighter. This is our whitelighter. Rinko.” He reaches a hand out for her.

Rinko’s a little embarrassed to come forward at first, but she comes over and takes Takato’s hand and then sits down next to him. “It’s really nice to meet you finally,” She says awkwardly.

Ai only beams. “Takato. Breaking the rules. I’ve never been more pleased! Haha. I am so happy for you two. It’s lovely to meet you, Rinko-san. A relationship with your whitelighter's is special. It's no wonder there haven’t been more rule-breakers like you guys. I had an interesting relationship with my whitelighter, too. Isn’t that right, UEDA?!”

“UEDA was your whitelighter!” The three practically say in unison, and they turn to look at the older woman, who is leaning against the doorway.

“I had many white lighters in my day, as I was a bit of a troublemaker. BUT Ueda was the only one who could handle me. I was always quite a handful, wasn’t I, Ueda!”

“Yes. You were, and so I expected nothing less from your children.”

“Don’t be too harsh on her boys. She was always very strict. But - she happens to be the cleverest whitelighter out there.” She exchanges a playful look with Ueda, and then she turns her attention back to Rinko and Takato. “You two make a lovely couple. Don’t worry about what the council thinks. As long as Rinko does her job well, which I have no doubt she will, then they don’t get any say.” She says and turns to look at everyone, “Now who wants to share next.”

Akihito thought it was his turn now. He had thought long and hard about what he would say. He would start with the story of the Book of Shadows turning to the Soulmate locator spell. But before he could speak, Kou speaks up.

“My turn. I have something to share. I-I’m seeing someone.”

Akihito and Takato, even Rinko, turns around, eyes flashing in surprise at Kou. Only Ai turns to him calmly.

“What?” Akihito said.

“Who?” Takato added.

“I haven’t told anyone. But ugh. I’m seeing someone.” Kou was starting to blush. “Um. I’m - ugh, actually, I don’t know if I am. I guess I could be Bi but maybe not. Um. I-I am seeing a man.” He was nervously rambling

“Kou!” Akihito grabs hold of his hand. “Why didn’t you say so earlier,”

“I’ve only been seeing him for two weeks. Um, his name is…Suoh.”

“BLOND GIANT!” Akihito grinned, and then his face fell just as soon, “OMG, yesterday! It was a date, wasn’t it- and I crashed it! Does Asami know!”

“Yes, Asami knows. And yes, it was supposed to be a date. But it’s okay.”

“Kou. Did you feel like you couldn’t tell anyone because of me…because of how harsh I’ve been about… Asami.” Takato speaks up with worry. “I’m so sorry because I actually really like Suoh. He’s a good guy. I’m happy for you.”

“Blond Giant? Hmm, sounds handsome. So what does this Suoh do?” Ai interjected, a soft smile warming its way on her lips.

“He’s a bodyguard and head of security. He’s kinda just a regular dude, and he already knows I’m a witch.” Kou continued a little more confidently.

“I’m so happy you finally told your brothers. I was waiting for you to be ready to tell them.” Ai says.

Kou blushes, “You mean you knew!”

“Silly boys, I’ve told you already that I’ve been watching over you. Of course, I know. Suoh seems like a sweet man. And he is certainly a giant!”

“Wait a minute, if you’ve been watching over us and you already know about Suoh- That means you…you know about Asami too.” Akihito started. He was blushing, wondering what that means ‘watching over’ did that mean she’d seen and heard all of Asami’s perverted antics.

Ai laughed as if she could read Akihito’s thoughts. “Oh yes. I know all about Asami. And even if I wasn’t watching over you, I would have been hearing all about it - the gossip up there can sometimes be out of control! Oh yes. I know everything about _Asami-sama_.”

Akihito wasn’t sure how to take that information. Was that a good thing? He wasn’t sure if she was joking or being sarcastic or if her tone was disapproving. He clamped up and tried to explain.

“Well, then you know that I did the Soulmate locater spell that was in the Book of Shadows, and it lead me to him. Um, we’ve been together for a few months now… and well, I guess you know that he’s a -um. He’s a demon.” He swallowed hard. And here he had thought he’d be brave and defend Asami.

The whole time he spoke, Ai’s facial expressions were flat, unlike earlier where she was beaming and smiling, and it made his throat feel even drier, and he started fumbling while he spoke.

“Tsk Tsk Akihito..” Ai nodded her head disapprovingly, and it made Akihito’s heart sink. “Bringing that kind of a person into the family… A dirty CAPITALIST!” A joking smile curved on her lips. “A billionaire! Akihito! What a sell out you’ve become! I never thought we’d have a _financier_ in the family! It’s too horrible to think.”

“Grandma!” Akihito shoulders slumped and he relaxed to a grin realizing she was throwing him through a loop.

“A billionaire? Couldn’t have at least tried for a trillionaire Akihito, I think you can do better!” She continued on with her joke. A wide smile on her face while she held back a laugh. “Oh, Akihito. I’m sorry I didn’t mean to scare you just then- but you-u should have seen the LOOK on your face!!” She breaks into a hardy laugh, and Kou and Takato join her.

“Yeah, Yeah. Laugh it up. I get it.” He says, nodding his head disapprovingly at their juvenile antics.

“Yesterday, we went to a shop that belonged to Asami. Akihito still wanted to pay for everything,” Kou added with a wide smile, “I don’t know anyone else who’s so finicky about money.”

“Really, Akihito, your brothers are over here struggling financially, and you happen to score one of the richest men in Tokyo, and you won’t even let him help out once in a while.” Ai says with a laugh.

“Well, I am not interested in him because he has money!”

“But sometimes we wish you were just a tiny bit _more_ interested in his money,” Takato even added. “For _our_ sakes at least!”

Akihito rolled his eyes. “You guys are so mean to me.”

“Oh, Akihito, but really. Who do you think opened the book to the soulmate locator spell that night? My dear.” Ai said, suddenly, growing a little more serious, and she cocked her head to the side.

There was a pause. “What?” Akihito started. “T-that was you!”

“I’ve been quietly helping you all out when you needed it, a little gust of wind here or there to give you some guidance.” She adds.

“Grandma! Really? That was you helping us out.” Kou said.

“Of course! Who else would it be? I have to look after my boys!”

“You told me to use the soulmate locator spell… but why?” Akihito suddenly pressed.

“Akihito. It’s like what I said earlier, my dear. You need a little _careful management_!” She laughed. “I didn’t know _exactly_ where it would lead you, and I wouldn’t have know that you finding your soulmate would have lead to Kou to - _perhaps_ finding his own.”

“So you’re really not disappointed or anything that there's a demon in the family.” Akihito pressed.

“As far as I’m aware of. He’s not quite in the family… _yet_. Maybe by next winter solstice perhaps…?” She has another playful smirk on her lips and wipes away some blond strands from Akihito’s face. “Why would I be disappointed? A rich man in the family, and I don’t have to worry about you boy's losing the house or something like that. No, I am very happy for you. Because I know very well how happy he makes you. And I hope he treats you very well because if not, I will personally kick him out the door.”

___________________________

They go down another list of topics of conversation that they wanted to catch Ai up on. Later even Ueda joins in on the conversation and tells stories when Ai was a younger witch. Ueda apparently used to visit the three when they were babies but hadn’t seen the brothers since then.

It was a little odd. Even Ueda seemed to be getting a bit of a retrieval for her original stuck-up-ness.

Later in the evening, they decided to do their little yule present exchange.

Kou gave Takato the new set of crystals, with a note. “Don’t zap anyone with these,” He also gave Akihito in interesting ingredient he’d seen at the Hexing hour- mermaid scales.

Akihito gave Kou some animal guts in a preserved jar that he had gotten from the Hexing hour. It was the grosses thing he had seen at the shop, and it had grossed Kou out. So Akihito decided to jokingly give it to him in the gift exchange. While he gave Takato a book he had found at the hexing house on telekinesis.

Since Takato had missed out on the shopping, he had instead made his gifts. He made jars that were filled with potion ingredients for Akihito - the things in his jar were suppose to be positive in the relationship department. It was meant to be a peace offering after their fight yesterday. While the one he made for Kou was one that was meant to increase energy.

Rinko had made the three a large jar that was meant to ward evil spirits away. “Hopefully, this keeps some of those warlocks and demons away until new years.” She said. She also gave Takato a smaller jar- for which she didn’t specify what it supposedly did, but the blush on her face said it must have been something private.

But just as they were almost done with their gift exchange, Ai notices two other gifts under the tree. They were wrapped much more decoratively than the others, but with no card, they decided to open them together.

They opened the smaller of the boxes first, and inside was a neatly packed ceremonial dagger. Kou picked it up immediately upon seeing it.

“Uh. I was fooling around with this with Suoh at the Hexing Hour… He must have gotten it…” Kou says, blushing because he was touched.

They opened the larger box. And it was the Kylix that Akihito had wanted.

“Kou! Did you get this! After I said, don’t get anything fancy!” Akihito asked.

“No, I didn’t, but I did tell Asami that you wanted it. He must have snuck it in.”

“Asami bought it for me…” Akihito couldn’t help but blush a bit too.

It wasn’t just the gift that made Akihito think of Asami. It was the fact he was getting an overwhelming sense of guilt and feeling like he had brushed Asami off for this. He had treated this entire solstice holiday like- Asami was going to be this thorny topic of conversation or the elephant in the room.

Asami was his soulmate for gosh sakes, yet Akihito felt like he was constantly holding back or apologizing for the fact that Asami was a demon.

And even though Asami himself had kept saying it was fine. It wasn’t really fine.

When Rinko and Takato, who had frankly been no great ally towards Asami, had been questioned and harshly probed by Ueda. Asami jumped to defend them instantly and shut her up.

Even if Ai had been disapproving, would Akihito just shut up? Would he have just kept a tight lip for the sake of appearance and to quell everyone. Would he had been as bold as Asami and defend him, or would he just be apologizing for his soul mates- very existence…

Or what about the other things, like how he always asked Asami all these last few weeks to sneaking around, so nobody knew they were practically living together. As if Asami was some dirty little secret and not his soulmate.

It’s not like they could be open and out on Asami’s side of things, but that situation was life and death, so they wouldn’t be targeted by bounty hunters all the time. But they couldn't even be open and out on Akihito's side- and why? Because he was embarrassed? Because he was ashamed and was hiding it?

Now he was maybe overthinking some things. Perhaps he was thinking about all the things Ueda had said about the Winter Solstice, about it being a time for introspection and reflection.

That it was the day where literally the depth of the darkness had been reached with the longest night of the year, and yet at the same time, it was also the return of the Sun, the return of light, of hope and of promise-with longer days and sunlight from here on out until the next solstice.

Akihito chewed on his bottom lip. “Excuse me for a second!” He said suddenly, and he sat up and grabbed his phone.

He shot out the quickest text before he could backtrack or rethink;

“ **I want my grandmother to meet the man I love.”** ****

_*Send*_ ****

**“…Oh, and bring Suoh too.”**

He put his phone down. Instantly blushing like a mad man.

Was it wrong to confess over a text message? Too late to think of that now.

He didn’t even want to be holding on to the phone obsessively checking it or something. Or to see if he’d been left on reading. So he just sat down again on the floor where he had been seated.

Some of the others looked at him as he sat back down, clearly wondering what he had just done.

Not 30 seconds pass…

_*Ding DONG*_

Asami had finally learned to use the front door…

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> obviously, the first thing Asami will say is, "suoh better not be the man you love." 🤣


	29. Chapter 29

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello!!! It's been a while with this one. But I've really missed it, so I decided to do a quick little update, there will be a part two to this coming soon 😊😊 
> 
> So recently some Finder news came out that the new title for the next Volume is called "The end of Finder" and so everyone has been panicking. But I've heard from some other people that that title is actually a mistranslation when it actually means "the farthest end" As in the deepest point of the abyss... so maybe it's not the end? I don't know but I would really like a follow-up where we know for real if it's the final volume or not. I don't know how sensei can resolve everything in one volume 😭😭  
> I know she works very hard but I'll be so sad when Finder ends 🥺😭😭
> 
> Also that new picture of Akihit suiting up 🥰🥰 Wow he's hot now LOL

It had been on Akihito’s mind since early on in their relationship.

So much so that Akihito was doing something he ought not to do- consulting the Book of Shadows for potential answers to this _particular_ problem he faced. He knew if Asami had found out he was looking into such a thing, it might cause some ire from the older man. But Akihito saw no harm in looking into it to see if it was an option.

Asami’s half-demon side had always been a thorny topic in their relationship. And while Akihito was trying to live with the fact that Asami quite clearly had a darker side.

Since Akihito was truly getting to know the man, he was starting to realize that his human side was actually pretty prevalent within him. Akihito saw the human side to him all the time. Like when he’d do the dishes after dinner when he was home, or when he was in his joggers relaxing on the weekends. When he spent the night at the manor house, and he’d sleep next to Akihito in his modest plaid comforter bed. Akihito saw it some times when there was a bit of glint in his eyes when he was amused at the brothers for something.

It wasn’t that supernatural glint, like when his eyes occasionally glowed. Sometimes during sex his eyes would glow - which according to Asami, always had the effect of making Akihito tighter and harder. Alright, Akihito would admit the glowing eyes thing was definitely one plus of the whole demon thing. And if Akihito was honest, he was starting to get a little spoiled when it came to Asami’s taxi service- AKA his blinking ability. That had certainly had its perks when they wanted to sneak away from the manor and forget all about the thin walls between the bedrooms.

But Asami’s human side definitely had a secret love for domesticity. But it was for this reason that Akihito was starting to think that maybe Asami’s human side and his demon side were likely often contradicting themselves. Since their relationship started, that human side of him might be making Asami’s life a little more difficult.

It was clear to Akihito that the human side was trying to breakthrough. Asami was becoming good. And his actions in recent weeks had proved that. He had rescued Kou and Takato from the fear demon, Barbas. He had stood up for Takato and Rinko’s relationship in front of Ueda-san.

And even though his cozy relationship with the Charmed Ones was affecting his business and his life. He did it anyway and silenced his critics. That was his good side. That was his human side, choosing that.

And for that reason, Akihito was looking up if there was a way for the Charmed Ones to make him demon-free. It would stop bounty hunters from chasing him. It would make him good. It would stop the council from bugging in on their life. He could touch the Book of Shadows himself instead of the book protecting itself when it sensed evil.

There were lots of reasons to do that, and to Akihito, he felt it was his duty as a Charmed Ones to get Asami clean, so to speak. Some part of him had always felt like maybe this was what he was destined to do. He had always felt Asami was the ‘innocent’ he had to rescue.

It was something that truthful Akihito had been looking into since day one. However, he had never found anything fruitful.

But there had to be a way for Asami to relinquish or bind his powers and turn him fully human.

And so Akihito was looking through the Book of Shadows for some more ideas today.

“This is a bad idea!” Kou warned him. He looked over Akihito’s shoulder, watching him taking notes as he sits at the breakfast table.

“It can’t possibly hurt to just look over these things. I’m not hurting anybody by just looking…” Akihito’s quick to defend himself.

Asami was at work now, and it was only mid-afternoon, so Akihito was getting in some time to do some research while the man was a work.

Kou shrugs. He was about to leave for work, so he was in no mood to argue with Akihito. Plus, he had recently started to enjoy his ride to work these days as it meant a quick car ride with a certain large blond security man that doubled as his boyfriend. They were still keeping their relationship close to the chest, even after Kou had revealed they were seeing each other at the recent Christmas party.

But he was hoping that would change since Asami usually had dinner with them or openly stayed the night. But he had a little bit of a feeling that Suoh felt uncomfortable going to family dinners since his boss would be there. Even though, by all accounts, Asami approved of their relationship.

So Kou would let Akihito be as long as he knew not to do anything without first consulting Asami about anything, then he was sure it would end up fine.

“Whatever, dude. I’m going to work, don’t do anything stupid while I’m gone.” Kou reminds.

“Are you going to work with Suoh?” Akihito perks up, a soft smile lining his features as he looked over at his brother. Akihito had been the one most pleased to hear about his relationship with Suoh.

It was partially because Akihito had felt sorry for all the couples things happening, first with Asami and Akihito. Then when Takato found out, Rinko was a whitelighter. It had felt like Kou was the perpetually single one in the family, and for him to finally met someone pleased the younger brother.

But he was also undoubtedly pleased because Kou had met Suoh because of Asami. It was not exactly done in any traditional sense of it- as if Asami had introduced Suoh properly to Kou. No instead, they had met when Suoh stormed the manor house with their anti-magic SWAT team. And their first meeting, Suoh had tied Kou up-and not in a kinky way either.

Suoh and Kou’s meeting was probably just as bad as Asami’s and Akihito's. But their bad start hadn’t deterred them from starting to like each other. And it was nice for the younger brother to have someone to talk to about *cough cough* Asami's similar line of work.

“Yes. He’s coming to pick me up as usual. We’re getting coffee and going on a little errand, and then I’m heading in to work.” Kou explained, he couldn’t help but beam a little bit.

“Alright then. You have fun!” Akihito called after as Kou waved good-bye and headed towards the front hall.

Akihito went back to work digging through the Book of Shadows. There were spells that bond power or relinquished powers, but those were for witches. And he didn’t think where the kinds of spells that were a catch-all kind of spell that worked for every magical being.

The problem as well was not Asami’s powers. That was only one part of it. So a binding spell or a relinquishing spell would not do the trick. Asami would still be a demon- but a defenseless one. Bounty Hunters could potentially still track him. So those spells were probably no good. Not the true answers Akihito was looking for.

He turns a page and then another, and he’s starting to get a little annoyed at the lack of answers.

Where was the serendipitous gust of wind that would turn to the right page when he needed it?

He grumbles a bit to himself. Almost ready to give up when another thought comes to mind.

A few weeks ago, when they were preparing for the Yule ceremony- Suoh, in all in wisdom, had taken Kou and Akihito to a handy dandy magic shop- The Hexing Hour. They didn’t have to pay for anything as the shop was one of Asami’s properties. It had so many interesting little trinkets and magical objects.

He had already talked with Takato and Kou about how they should return to the shop the next time they had magical troubles- as it probably had everything they would ever need. It also had a huge selection of magical books, books that were similar to the Charmed Ones' own Book of Shadows.

There was likely a whole lot of knowledge in the library section. Which meant there might be something there that could help Akihito in finding out about half-demons.

Except there was a problem. Suoh had mentioned that they shouldn’t go to that store by themselves… but surely that was just because the store owner was a little creepy.

It seemed like too good of an idea to pass up for the young witch. He couldn’t possibly go with Asami, as there was no way Akihito could hide what he was doing from their older man. And going with Suoh would probably lead to a similar result, with everything getting back to Asami in a quick fashion.

Akihito got up, motivated to check out this shop despite the warning he'd received. He was sure there would be something there. He got some things together and decided to go out the back and through some bushes, knowing Asami had guards that followed him at a distance.

He knew that the guards were for his own safety, but it endlessly pissed him off that he had to have guards on him all the time - he was a Charmed One, for gosh sakes! And while he didn’t have active powers, he still could very well take care of himself!

So he sneaked out the back and hopped on the bus to get to the Hexing Hour. He knew he had to go in the front door instead of the back way like Suoh had when they had last come here. The storefront looked so unassuming, and it's in a rather shoddy part of town.

There was a little wooden sign outside the shop with the shop's name, the paint practically all withered off. He steps inside, noting they’re open for the day. And the bell rings on the shop's door as he steps inside. He doesn’t see anyone at first, but then from behind a curtain, the creepy shop owner Kai appears.

Kai’s eyes flash in recognition when he sees Akihito, “Ah!” He says, a smile crossing his lips, “You were that special _guest_ of Asami-sama. Back for more?”

“Uh. Yes…I guess so. You have a fascinating collection here.” Akihito steps deeper into the shop. He tilts his head around, looking at his surroundings. The store hasn’t changed much since last time.

“Any _friend_ of Asami-sama is a friend of mine. What are you looking for? Perhaps I can be of assistance.” He lowers his head slightly, in a kind of bow.

Akihito thinks about it. Maybe he should try to look for what he wants on his own and not bring Kai into this. But he was also on a time crunch.

“I’m looking for anything you have on half-demons,” Akihito replies bluntly. He watches Kai, gauging his reaction.

Kai’s eyes flash in surprise. “…Interesting topic…” He says after a moment.

Akihito shrugs, “Do you have anything?”

“Are you…by chance, looking into information about Asami-sama?” Kai questions, his eyebrow raises.

The question reminds Akihito of the fact that there wasn’t anything that he really knew Asami. There was nothing about Asami in the Book of Shadow. He never even knew what type of Demon Asami was…there was admittedly a lot he didn’t know about the man- who seemed to keep things like his past close to his chest.

His musing must have been the answered Kai's questions, so Kai continued. “You should know, in case you didn’t already. Asami has lived for quite a while, and he’s been quite diligent about destroying and erasing any written record of himself. Including in magical text. He does it so that nobody knows his weaknesses- not that he likely has many…”

“I see…I didn’t know that.” _So thats why we never found anything about Asami…_ Akihito thinks to himself. “I’d… still like to look around if that okay.” Akihito continues.

Kai nods and gestures for the entrance to the back part of the store. “Of course, go right on ahead. I will point out a few sections that may be of interest…”

They walk through to another part of the store, where the library is, and there's a back section with a bookcase thats behind a glass door. Kai unlocks it and points out a few shelves.

Akihito picks up a few books and rummages through them. There's a desk covered with other books and a chair that he can pull out and sit down while he does his research. The dusty library was quiet when Kai left, and he goes undisturbed for a few hours as he shuffles through the pages.

He finds as he's looking through the books that pages are missing in almost all of them. Sometimes whole chapters. It can’t all be related to Asami erasing all evidence of himself. But he can’t help but think that maybe it is… Asami did own this shop. It was more than likely that he had gone through every one of these books and systematically destroyed anything that could be related or connected to him. Anything that could be used against him…

Akihito didn’t doubt that it would be hard to kill a demon like Asami. He certainly wasn’t your average demon. But the missing pages was a rather eerie reminder of the fact Asami was the super demon Akihito always knew he was. He was glad they weren't on opposing teams, or other wise Asami would be impossible to stop.

It seemed so crazy. This super demon was his soulmate. It was even crazier to think that this super demon who had probably done unspeakable things - was slowly through Akihito’s own efforts turning away from the side of evil…

It made Akihito feel a little self-conscious. Sure, he was a Charmed One, but not even the most powerful one. What made him so special...

Weren’t there other people Asami was more aligned with? People who were just as badass as he was…

But just as the little witch starts to spiral into all sorts of dark thoughts that he wasn’t good enough for Asami- he finally lands across a page that seems promising.

A spell. For splitting two halves.

The spell detailed how witches of old used it to maximums their powers. Since witches too could be half-mortal and half witches.

So there was some way to split Asami’s two sides!

Akihito furiously writes everything down. Ingredients seemed like things they already had at home, and the spell was a rather simple Latin chant. Akihito was pretty pleased with himself. He took a picture of the book and the page with the spell. To make sure he had all the information.

It was getting on the latter side, and he had spent all day doing research. So after putting the book away and cleaning up his notes, he leaves the store. Thanking Kai on the way out for his help.

The guy only _looked_ creepy but, he seemed all together not so bad.

“Thanks for your help today, Kai! So what do I owe you?” He says, digging into his pocket for his wallet.

“Ah-ah - No need. Like I said, any friend of Asami is a friend of mine- I would never charge my friends just for looking around my shop! Please just come again,”

“Thats really nice of you…” Akihito responds sheepishly, still feeling like he ought to pay something, “Um. You won’t tell Asami I was here, will you?” Akihito asks. Probably pushing his luck, but he thought Asami would be mad if he found out he had come here by himself- against Suoh’s wishes.

“Hehe... Alright. I won’t tell Asami,” Kai chuckles. “Bye-Bye now.”

“Thanks!” Akihito heads out the door ringing the bell as he departs.

When he leaves, a cool smile widens on Kai’s face, and he chuckles lightly to himself before heading to the back room again.

______________________________________________________

Akihito was so determined to find answers that he hadn't really thought through the consequences of doing all this. He wasn’t even sure it would work since it was normally used on witches. And to be honest, Akihito wasn’t even sure if he could use spells that were from other Magic books that weren’t the Book of Shadows. 

So he agreed to himself that he wasn’t gonna do anything until Asami came back, and they talked about it.He hadn’t collected any of the materials needed for the spell, but he had added his notes about the spell and hid them within the pages of the Book of Shadows for later.

Nobody had come back from work yet, and Akihito was upstairs in the attic, already starting to doubt himself.

Was this really the right play? Did he really want Asami to be a regular human- wasn’t that for the best? But was it really something Asami would even agree to. He could at least think about it…

What if Asami was a little hurt, thinking Akihito wanted his demon side gone. Had he taken this too far even? Going behind his back and find this spell that Asami might not even want to do.

Maybe he should discuss it with his brothers before he even tells Asami.

He had maybe acted a little headstrong- too headstrong. And it turned into him digging around for things that maybe he shouldn’t have. He left the spell in the attic and headed downstairs, deciding to put everything on hold until he knew what to do.

But what he didn’t know was that all of his actions were being closely watched by members of the Council.

The Council had for years tried to find ways to vanquish Asami- he was practically enemy number one for many, many years. But they had never found any way to vanquish him. Not that they had the power to do it themselves

But it seemed the youngest Witch of the Charmed Ones had found some kind of loophole. The council had never thought about separating Asami from his demon side- that was an ingenious little thought that the young witch had thought of all by himself.

Head Councilmen Kazuki was so intrigued by the idea when he had heard. The spell he had found even seemed simple. Kazuki called in one of the most loyal white lighters- Ueda.

“Bring back that spell.” He had ordered her.

And so when Akihito was leaving the attic, the whitelighter Ueda dropped down into the attic with her orbing powers. She knew that maybe what she was doing was a little distasteful, given how her relationship with the Charmed Ones had recently gotten better. But she was only following orders.

It was not the job of Whitelighter's to interfere, so she only thinks that the reason Head Councilmen Kazuki had called her in to get the spell was so they could determine the validity of it. To find out whether it would work or not. She thought it was so they could better _guide_ Akihito. Convince him to do the spell, and alleviate any potential worries- like if he thought the spell was dangerous even.

She did not think that anything would happen if she made a copy of Akihito’s notes and give them to the Council - in fact, she believed that Akihito would never even find out that the council was even interested.

Once she’s finished copying down the information, she orbs away to give the information to Councilmen Kazuki.

_________________________________________

A few hours later, and Akihito’s still thinking it over, he’s made dinner and done some chores around the house while he thought it over.

In the end, he thought about what had happened this Christmas. How guilty he had felt about addressing the elephant in the room- as if he was ashamed of Asami’s demon side. He had thought he had partially addressed all that after he had decided to introduce Asami to his grandma.

Which had gone very nicely, and Ai had fawned over him the entire time. It had proved there was nothing for Akihito to worry about. Asami was his soulmate and his lover. He was half-demon- and thats just the way things were. Why should Akihito make Asami change who he was?

This research he was doing was something he had spent so long looking into that he just didn’t want to leave it half-finished...

And the truth was maybe a part of him had done it because he wanted to find out more about Asami…

And so he had decided he wouldn't use the spell. 

So it comes as a surprise to him when he hears Asami baritone's voice ringing in the house. “Akihito!” He called from somewhere in the front of the house. He heard the man's shoes tapping determinedly across the hallway.

Akihito could sense it was not a happy-sounding Asami. And his mind falls on the fact that maybe Kai had told Asami that he was at the Hexing Hour and he was about to receive a lecture about how ditching his guards was bad, and never go to the Hexing Hour on his own.

“Yes?” He responds from the kitchen. He scrunches his eyes together, preparing himself for the lecture.

Asami turns the corner into the kitchen, his brows are furrowed, and the line of his jaw is hard. “What. Did. You. Do!?” He asks harshly.

Akihito slumps his shoulder. What was Asami so mad about? Akihito puts his hands up defensively and rolls his eyes, “Okay, I am sorry I won’t go to the Hexing Hour by myself again.”

Asami’s eyes narrowed, and his expression turned to confusion. He didn't know what Akihito was talking about. “No. I mean-“ He stops and turns to the doorway, “Get over here!” he seems to call to someone thats out in the hallway, and then he yanks whoever they are forward into the kitchen by grabbing them by their tie so that Akihito can see them.

Akihito's jaw drops, pupil's double in size.

Asami roughly holds by the tie - another Asami.

The similarities are more than uncanny- their exact copies, even down to the suit they're wearing.

The other Asami gripes a bit at being handled non too gently by the tie. He shuffles and straightens out, then fixes his suit. He turns to Akihito, “Yeah. Hi!” He waves back. “He’s been furious this whole time…But I told him you wouldn’t do something like this.”

Akihito stutters; “T-there's- what!? There's two of you?!”

“Yes. Now. What. Did. You. Do. Akihito.?!” Asami, the first one, repeats.

**Author's Note:**

> Updating will be sporadic. hope you like ;D


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